Summary

Site of prehistoric pit workings and the discovery of the shovel - the exact no. and location of surface workings is unknown. The wooden shovel was found within one of the pits along with stone tools.

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Description

Pit-workings exposed by mining activity in the 1870s at the Brynlow Opencast, reported by Boyd Dawkins. He described the ground at this site as ‘fantastically’ hollowed’ and on a visit in 1874 recovered some 35 hammer stones, with another 100 later in the year. Most were found in the bottom of pits, which he states were up to 8-11ft (2.4-3.3m) deep. A copy by Roeder of a sketch section by Boyd Dawkins shows a quarry face with modern mine levels at its base, and with an uneven worked/pitted surface of rock buried beneath the soil above it. J D Sainter, who visited the site a little later in the 1870s, estimated the depth of some of the pit-workings as 12-16ft (3.6-4.8m). He also noted that as well as hammer stones the finds from the pits included an oak shovel (Site 314). Boyd Dawkins has not left information on the location of the pits, but Roeder was told of their position by a former mine manager. From Roeder’s published mapping, and a field map and photograph in the Roeder collection in Manchester Central Library, the pits seem to have been grouped on the east side of the opencast. The oak shovel was kept, and in 1953 was rediscovered by Alan Garner, who in 1990 presented it to Manchester Museum. It has been radiocarbon dated to 1888-1677 cal BC (3740±90 BP; OxA-4050; Garner 1994), which would suggest that the pit-workings are of this period or earlier. A geophysical survey carried out in Brynlow Field in 1997 suggests that a number of pits may still exist below ground level outside the opencast (Site 256).

(OAN 2018)

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