Archive for the ‘History’ Category

Nethergreen Dig

Posted in History on Saturday May 4, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Thank you to Richard K-M for sending this polecam photo of the work the excavation group at last Sunday’s Archaeology Day.

polecam pic

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Archaeology Day Preparations

Posted in History on Saturday April 27, 2019| 3 Comments »

Although the Day has been postponed to tomorrow Sunday 28 April, preparations were underway on Friday. Two areas have been marked out for the geophys team, one in Chris and Ruth’s orchard and one in the field at Nethergreen Farm. The geophys scanner cannot work in wet conditions so fingers crossed for a dry day tomorrow.

Friday also saw the removal of turf and loose stones from what will become the large excavation trench. With only an inch or so of top soil removed interesting stones were starting to be revealed which indicate an earlier construction. The trench is now ready for a full excavation.

archaeology 2019

Everyone is welcome to come along and have a go at the geophys survey and excavating the trench. There will be a few archaeological activities for children. Please bring along any interesting finds you may have from the village and also your knowledge about local water sources. We are hoping to start a major project on the importance of water to the village, this Archaeology Day is our first step towards this project.

Fiona H. History Society

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Archeology Day – Parwich Finds

Posted in Events, History on Friday April 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Bring along any interesting finds that have appeared in your gardens or elsewhere and find out what they are. We have our very own finds expert Ian Pitts on hand to identify what you bring along.

The bits of pottery or metal work we find in our gardens can tell us a surprising amount. In my garden bits of late nineteenth or early twentieth century pottery at the bottom of the well tell us when it was likely to have gone out of use and been filled in, and two bits of pottery, one above and one below, suggest a yard surface, two feet or so below the current garden, was in use around the 1500s. (An advantage of having Ian doing your walling is the additional finds identification.)

Some random pottery finds in a Parwich flower bed
The piece on the right is Medieval perhaps indicating a Medieval house was nearby

Also we have a display of some of the late Brian Foden’s finds in and around Parwich from his many years of field walking. This includes some very fine Neolithic flints and arrowheads.

Note, this event has been delayed a day, because of the imminent arrival of Storm Hannah. Come for all or part of the day, 10am to 4pm Sunday 28th April, Nethergreen Farm.

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Archaeology Day now Sunday

Posted in History on Friday April 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Due to the imminent arrival of Storm Hannah the decision has been made to postpone the Archaeology Day to Sunday 10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Fiona H

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Archeology Day – Wells & Springs

Posted in Environment, Events, Farming, History, Services, Utilities on Wednesday April 24, 2019| 4 Comments »

Before mains water, local water sources and water management were essential for successful farming and ultimately survival. For example Parwich had an ‘ancient’ water meadow system designed to get grass growing as early as possible in the Spring to feed livestock as early as possible before the Winter feed stores were used up and the beasts had to be slaughtered.

The History Society hopes to undertake an archeology project investigating aspects of water management in our area. At this stage we are gathering what information we can about water usage in our area and also trying to find out what people are most interested in.

Domestic well found at Church Farm

A lot of houses had their own water supply and there was a system of wells and springs serving the community as a whole.

Communal water sources in Parwich, marked with green dots

The communal sources we know about are

  • the Village Pump (now the bus shelter)
  • Staines trough
  • Pump Hill trough (supplied by pump that also took water up to the ‘dew pond’ at the top of the Hall gardens)
  • Kiln Lane troughs
  • spring below Knob Hall
  • step down well at Church Farm (now in Court House garden)
  • springs on hillside opposite the Crown Inn, now in the garden of Pool Croft

There may have been other sources used communally such as the covered well behind West View or the step down well by Brook Cottage but we need confirmation of this.

Given mains water arrived here with in living memory, there is potential to gather what information and stories people have, in addition to studying the evidence of remaining features and of old maps.

Nether Green Farm itself has at least two wells, one of which a very unusual design for Derbyshire (so far the only parallels identified are in Cornwall), but also there are seasonal springs that fed the water meadow system and interesting but not yet understood underground water channels and sluices.

Come along on Sunday to perhaps find out where your house used to get its water from, help us map the water sources in Parwich and the surrounding area, share any information you might have, have a look around Nethergreen Farm or even participate in archeological investigations there.

Updated 26/4/19 Come for all or part of the day, 10am to 4pm Sunday 28th April, Nethergreen Farm.

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Archaeology Day; More Details

Posted in History on Tuesday April 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Archaeology day poster 2

With the kind permission of Chris and Ruth L, there will be some geophysical surveying of the lumps and bumps in their orchard as well as at Nethergreen Farm. A geophys survey enables archaeological images to be mapped without disturbing the ground. Come and see how it works and have a go! 

Fancy your hand at excavation? A couple of trenches will be opened under the guidance of an archaeologist. Small trowels and sieves will be provided for you to see what we can learn about the previous use and occupation of the area.  One of the trenches will be where we believe there is a small chamber, found a couple of years ago using a small camera (and nearly losing Ian P)! 

well 003 (2)

 

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Archaeology Day

Posted in History on Wednesday April 17, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Archaeology day poster 2

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