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The Northern Antiquarian Forum

Archaeology, folklore & myth of Britain's pre-christian sites & heritage: stone circles, holy wells, maypoles, tombs, archaic cosmologies and human consciousness. Everyone welcome - even Southerners!


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    Moleside Moor Settlement

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    chris57T


    Join date : 2012-03-28

    Moleside Moor Settlement Empty Moleside Moor Settlement

    Post  chris57T Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:12 am

    I came across this site whilst trying to identify a mound I had seen on the skyline looking east from Darwen Moor. The mound turned out to be Little Hameldon (SD 79456 29371) which appears to be very similar to Dry Hill on Oswaldtwistle Moor.

    Moleside Moor (SD 782290)is covered with circular reed-filled pits. 15 to 20 can be seen on Google Earth in the field around 53.756191, -2.330471. On inspection the pits were found to be surrounded by a stoney embankment up to 10 metres diameter. The only mention I have found on the internet is the following from from the Transactions of Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol 16 (1898) pages 221-2

    Early Pit-Dwelling Settlement.
    On the moors above Accrington (Lanes, ord. sheet Ixiii., S.E., Moleside Moor) there are a number of circular hollows in the ground, twenty-three having been noticed, commonly accounted for as "pit-sinkings." Their similarity to the external appearance of well-known pit-dwellings of the pre-Roman people of the north, as those on Pickering Moor in Yorkshire,

    Recent excavations suggested, however, the probability of their being the rem-
    nants of an early settlement of the kind. A sounding made through the centre of one of them disclosed two feet of modern accumulation (earth and bones of cattle), next three to four feet of " marl," likewise the product of a longer period of time, and, finally, at a total depth of twelve feet below the modern surface a layer ten inches thick of burnt twigs, cinders, and decayed vegetable matter. It is proposed shortly
    to make a more complete examination. Superficially, the orifice at the surface is thirty feet wide, narrowing at a depth of four feet to fifteen, then sinking almost vertically two feet to the level at which the excavation began. Some earth has
    been piled around the orifice on the exposed sides. The pits are not, apparently, arranged in any definite form, though roughly representing two concentric semi-circles. The evidence regarding them at present renders it quite possible
    that they formed the homes of an early settlement. The dwellers in such caves are supposed to have arranged boughs and thatching in a conical form over the opening, in the centre of which would bp a small hole for the escape of smoke from
    the fire kindled below.

    Superficially the pits look a bit like quarry or mine workings which may account for the lack of interest in them. The site is well-worth a visit and can be accessed by a boggy path from a lay-by on the south-bound carrageway of the A56. A new excavation would be very interesting.
    lowergate
    lowergate


    Join date : 2010-11-01
    Age : 75
    Location : CLITHEROE

    Moleside Moor Settlement Empty Re: Moleside Moor Settlement

    Post  lowergate Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:24 pm

    Wow kiddo! your pulling out some good stuff here this old git can't keep up with your observations ....

    Been with Malinka all day, went to a few of the other sites above Castle Clough - had a shower under the waterfallls with ramblers taking photos of two very wet sky clad hairy freaks sharing bottles of Cuban wine ....

    1612 - 2012 .... prefer bathing in the nature to climbing 1800ft ... up Pendle ... raised a glass to those good folks who made the effort ....

    You are bringing this site to life again Cris ... 'bring on the dancing girls' - john

    Will digest all this tomorrow evening .... Well done kiddo .... j

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