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Os grid reference SD.463 447. The village of Nateby, Over Wyre, is a couple of miles west of the A6 road near Garstang, and Pilling Moss a couple of miles further west from there. Archaeologists consider the area around the Moss as very interesting - after recent excavations found Late Mesolithic to Early Neolithic settlements and trackways in that area. In the late 1970s a prehistoric settlement was found at Bonds Farm, just east of Stackpool; also a scattering of artefacts were excavated here (animal bones etc) and, at Friars Hill, another settlement, just to the north by LUAC - radiocarbon dating gave a date of about 2,345 BC and for Bonds Farm a date of 1,445-1,397 BC. At Manor Farm, Nateby, a few pollished axes were excavated and were of a similar date. The area around Bone Hill house near Nateby was perhaps another ancient British settlement, but this place was more recently, in the 18th century, reputededly infamous as a "baby farm". Here a number of babies skeletons were dug up from beneath trees in what looked like suspicious circumstances.
At Friars Hill, possibly associated with Cockersand Abbey further to the north, another prehistoric settlement, it was discovered that this site had been connected to Pilling Moss by trackways called by Archaeologists 'Kate's Pad'; these timber walkways, made from oak trees, were probably built to cope with the constant flooding of the moss and thus better access. These timber structures apparently went several feet down into the moss. In the Roman period it is thought the wooden walkways were strengthened and added to - at this period they were were referred to as 'the Danes Pad'. About a mile and half of these ancient timbered structures have been excavated across Pilling Moss.
And at Nateby recent excavations in and around the village have showed that a trackway going through the centre of the village dates from prehistoric times and, a hill in the village showed signs of settlement. The trackway almost certainly connected with the one mentioned above running from Pilling Moss to Nateby - then on to the River Wyre at Hambleton.
In 1824 a human head was dug up from Pilling Moss; the skull was of a young girl from the Bronze-Age period that still retained its auburn hair as well as a necklass of jet containing a single amber bead (Edwards, B.J. N - Lancashire Archaeological notes prehistoric and Roman, Trans Hist Soc Lancashire Cheshire, 121, 99-106 1969). Archaeologists now consider the skull to have been a ritual bog burial. Also, a dug-out canoe was excavated from Pilling Moss, close to Pressall. This may have dated from the so-called Dark Ages, rather than from prehistoric times.
At Friars Hill, possibly associated with Cockersand Abbey further to the north, another prehistoric settlement, it was discovered that this site had been connected to Pilling Moss by trackways called by Archaeologists 'Kate's Pad'; these timber walkways, made from oak trees, were probably built to cope with the constant flooding of the moss and thus better access. These timber structures apparently went several feet down into the moss. In the Roman period it is thought the wooden walkways were strengthened and added to - at this period they were were referred to as 'the Danes Pad'. About a mile and half of these ancient timbered structures have been excavated across Pilling Moss.
And at Nateby recent excavations in and around the village have showed that a trackway going through the centre of the village dates from prehistoric times and, a hill in the village showed signs of settlement. The trackway almost certainly connected with the one mentioned above running from Pilling Moss to Nateby - then on to the River Wyre at Hambleton.
In 1824 a human head was dug up from Pilling Moss; the skull was of a young girl from the Bronze-Age period that still retained its auburn hair as well as a necklass of jet containing a single amber bead (Edwards, B.J. N - Lancashire Archaeological notes prehistoric and Roman, Trans Hist Soc Lancashire Cheshire, 121, 99-106 1969). Archaeologists now consider the skull to have been a ritual bog burial. Also, a dug-out canoe was excavated from Pilling Moss, close to Pressall. This may have dated from the so-called Dark Ages, rather than from prehistoric times.
