Spring/Summer 2013

Message from the Editor

A very warm welcome to all our members both old and new.

As this is our first newsletter of the year we hope to give you

an insight as to what has been happening recently and what

we have planed for the coming months.

Coming Events:

April 20th 10.00 - 16.00

BCA Display at Wirral History & Heritage Association Local

History Fair at Birkenhead Town Hall

June 1st 10.00 - 16.00

Start of new seasons excavations at Tam O’Shanter Urban

Farm

July 13th 10.00 - 15.00

CBA Festival of Archaeology Open Day event and tour

around excavations at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm

Sept 7th 10.00 - 15.00

Wirral Heritage Open Day event and tour around excavations

at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm

See our website news section for news of any additional events.

www.bidstoncommunityarchaeology.weebly.com/news

BCA members at Lunt Meadows excavation site

LUNT MEADOWS

Bidston Community Archaeology

has been working with Museums

of Liverpool since spring 2012 on

the excavation of a nationally

important archaeological site at

Lunt Meadows in Sefton.

Preliminary carbon-dating results

suggest a settlement 8,000 years

old, from the Mesolithic period, of

at least three structures. This

suggests that family groups were

living together in possibly one of

the earliest known settlement sites

to be discovered in Britain.

The people that lived on this site

would have been early nomadic

hunter gatherers who would have

ranged far and wide living off the

land’s natural resources and who

would of at least returned

repeatedly for a part of each year

or lived at the site for long periods

during the year.

Visit our website for full details.

In This Issue

Summer 2013 dig

Flag Signalling System

Bidston Hill Stone Carvings

Guest Feature :

‘Bidston Memories‟

BCA Newsletter

Summer 2013 Dig

Three separate phases of building have previously been found,

these date from stone masonry walls sometime prior to 1840

map evidence to hand made brick built walls from the early

19th century and right through to the mid 20th century. Last

year we found large amounts of iron slag suggesting that

metal smelting or metal forging had taken place on the site

together with evidence of a potential furnace and smithy.

This coming dig season will see our main focus of excavation

taking place in the areas of the oldest structures on the site in

search of the earliest dating evidence for occupation. Two new

trenches will be opened up and existing trenches will be

excavated down below the floor surfaces exposed during last

season’s dig. We also plan to

excavate the area around the

potential furnace location to

look for evidence that may be

able to shed light on whether

both primary metal smelting and

the secondary working of metal

took place on the site.

We have evidence of potential

prehistoric activity on the site

with the discovery of a worked

flint scraper and a number of

flint cores from which flint tools

would have been produced.

Large quantities of pottery have also been recovered mostly

dating from the 19th century but with some examples coming

from the both immediate post-medieval period and from the

18th century. No stratified dating evidence exists at present as

all finds have been recovered from ground greatly disturbed by

both demolition and pig activity. It is also possible that some

finds may result from topsoil being brought to the site.

This season, however, will finally see us working within both

sealed and undisturbed ground layers where any dateable

finds revealed will produce reliable indicative dates for those

structures built above them.

Getting Involved

Phase three of our excavation

project on the Pig Field site at the

Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm will

start on 1st June and we will

continue each weekend until 14th

September. All our members are

warmly welcome to join in by

giving as much or as little of their

time as they may wish.

It is not all about digging, there

are lots of other activities that you

can help with from recording and

processing finds to surveying and

drawing plans and lots in

between, all with our help and

guidance. You could, maybe, just

enjoy a well earned snooze in the

warmth of the summer sun.

Come along, you never know it

may be you that finds that missing

piece of evidence that produces

the date of the first buildings and

occupation on the site.

Not a member? Then get details

on how to join us from our website

or pick up a leaflet from the

Rangers office at Tam O’Shanter

Urban Farm

Possible Furnace & Smithy

Bidston Hill’s Carvings

Currently BCA are recording and researching the carvings on

the northern part of Bidston Hill. Our aim is to create both a

physical trail for those walking on the hill and a web based

multimedia experience for those unable to do so.

We are reviewing previous

research on the origins of the

carvings and are carrying out

further research. A number of

these carvings have long held

names such as Sun Goddess,

Moon Goddess, Horse and

Dagger Man. Nigel Rose wrote

“Carvings On Bidston Hill” in

2005. In this work he details

the carvings and provides

information on some of the

theories which have been

expressed related to their

origins.

Along with our continuing research into the carvings we are

recording their NGR co-ordinates using GPS. At present the

Rangers at Bidston Hill have an available leaflet that

includes information and the locations of a number of the

carvings. Ultimately, and with the support of the Rangers, our

aim is to have all this information available on QR codes at

the locations of the carvings and linked to a dedicated

section on the BCA’s website.

For those people who are unable to visit or access the hill

then our aim is to provide a virtual experience of the trail

detailing each of the carving’s locations with digital links to

both images and to detailed descriptions.

Flag Signal System

The end of the Seven Years War

in 1763 brought concern about

identification, movement and

protection of ships sailing in and

out of the River Mersey. In 1763 a

signalling station was built near to

the present Bidston lighthouse

utilising around 100 flagpoles as

an early warning system.

Merchant ships rounding the Point

of Ayr or Formby Point would be

spotted and identified. Watching

flag runners then had 11 minutes

to raise both the company's flag

and ship’s cargo flag on the

ship owner’s pole, enabling the

docks to ready their work force to

off-load the ship.

In 1771, the first lighthouse and a

semaphore station was built, as

part of a chain of signals along the

North Wales coast. Signals could

then be sent from Holyhead to

Liverpool in 8 minutes giving a

little longer to organise offloading

of cargo. In 1856 work began to

replace the manual semaphore

system by an electric telegraph

with the final connection between

Liverpool and Holyhead taking

place in 1861.

Extract from an A level Archaeology

project by current member Betty Nesbitt.

A detailed booklet on the remains and the

operation of the flag signal system on

the hill is currently in production.

Further details in our next newsletter.

Sun Goddess

Bidston Hill Flag Stations

Contact Us

If you would like any further

information about our activities or

have any other queries then you

can contact us via any of the

options below:

Bidston Community

Archaeology

C/O Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm,

Boundary Road, Bidston, Wirral

CH43 7PD

Email us at:

bidston-community-

archaeology@hotmail.co.uk

Visit us on the web: www.bidstoncommunityarchaeology.

weebly.com

Visit our Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/BCAPAGE

Archaeology for all

I started „Bidston Memories‟ as a Facebook page as a way of

collecting pictures and stories however small to share and

provoke memories of Bidston village, the hill and of the

surrounding area. Members are increasing every day and a

comprehensive collection is beginning to form.

All of the stories share a

love of the hill with a lot of

childhood memories of

playing on the hill in the

summer time. There are

lots of brilliant old photos,

postcards, and paintings

that have been shared for us all to see. It is amazing to see

how Bidston Hill looks without any trees; the views must have

been brilliant. Other interest has included the, now closed,

tunnels but there are also lots of videos, pictures and stories.

One photograph that I had

not seen before I started to

search through the archive

material relating to Bidston

is this one of the old

Bidston Aerodrome which

was originally located on the current site of what is now the

Bidston golf course and close to the present railway station.

There is so much history attached to the area and I hope that

people will continue to share their memories or even the tall

tales they have about Bidston with us.

Pay „Bidston Memories‟ a visit on Facebook, share your own

memories or just have a look.

www.facebook.com/groups/bidstonmemories

Deb Lindon

BIDSTON MEMORIES