Annual Programme

PROGRAMME FOR THE YEAR 2010 (Meetings on Thursday Evenings at 7.30 pm at Boston Spa School, Room PE -- unless otherwise informed or shown below.)

Thu 28 Jan	Sarah West & Peter Goldsborough (York University): Lichens and Lichenometry What can Lichens on trees and stones tells us of air quality and dating?
	see more... Sarah West of York University has been involved in the recent OPAL (Open Air Laboratories) surveys of various environmental subjects, including lichens on trees. User-friendly recording forms were devised for interested lay-people to use and the results are being compiled nationally. Sarah has also offered to lead us in some survey work (see June 24th Churchyard Survey). Peter Goldsborough has been pioneering research into the dating of stone by recording the growth of lichens. His work might provide interesting links with our own archaeobotanical surveys, the stone gatepost survey and the churchyard survey planned for June. (Members may remember the photographs I showed of lichens on gravestones from the Balranald Cemetery in the November 2009 talk on the Outer Hebrides.) If you have a hand-lens or magnifying glass bring it along to this meeting, as Sarah will have some examples of lichens for us to look at, as well as her presentation.
Thu 25 Feb	Erik Matthews: Industrial Archaeology of the Linen Industry
	see more... Erik is helping us with our study of Dam House and will talk about the linen industry, the local Clifford flax mills and how Dam House, as a potential flax-retting site, may have fitted in.
Thu 25 Mar	Above Ground Archaeology (AGA) Julie on ‘Windows of Thorp Arch’ and Diana on ‘Quarry finds’. Plus website review, news, previews of Programme events
	see more... Julie will be giving a talk on windows of Thorp Arch, following on from the one she did in 2007 on Boston Spa. There will be an opportunity to see examples from her presentation on the ‘Walk Through Time’ in March. There will be other presentations at the meeting, including Diana’s on the Primrose Lane Quarry/Tip finds, more from Mike on the website, previews of this year’s experimental archaeology meetings activities, the churchyard survey and any other items of news or updates.
Sun 28 Mar	Walk Through Time, Boston Spa to Thorp Arch: led by Malcolm. (10 am start.)
	see more... Postponed from last year, this guided walk partly follows our Deep Dale to Holgate ‘Heritage Trail’ (as seen on the website) and continues onto the Thorp Arch side of the river. Covering a wide span of historical and geological time in a very concentrated area, the walk is designed to visit or point out many of the archaeological, historical, ecological and geological features we have talked about in recent years and especially our latest discoveries. (One and a half to two miles and two hours, including an optional easy scramble for those confident enough to get down to the cave site. Others will be able to keep to the top path with one of the guides.)
Thu 29 Apr	Graham Lee (North York Moors National Park): Archaeology in the North York Moors National Park and the Peak Alum Site at Ravenscar.
	see more... Graham Lee is the archaeological conservation officer with the North York Moor National Park. He will talk about his work as well as the former alum industry near Ravenscar, the site of which we plan to visit in August. North York Moors Archaeology National Trust Yorkshire Coast
Thu 27 May	Experimental Archaeology Workshop Part 1: Mosaics,leather footwear & painted pictish pebbles. Preparation of materials /designs. (7.15 pm Treasurer’s garden.)
	see more... The first workshop will be experimenting with and preparing the actual materials involved: tesserae for the mosaics; leather shapes for the shoes, sinews for the bone needles; paint made from peat, soot and water for the painted pebbles. (Venue: Treasurer’s Garden 7.15 pm.)
Thu 24 June	Churchyard Surveys: lichens, trees, stones and bats (Boston Church 7.15 pm.)
	see more... The idea is to use the churchyard as the focus for a variety of surveys because it offers a suitable local context containing the ingredients of stones with dates on them, lichens, trees, plants and bats. (See notes on the January meeting.) We may also incorporate trees along the nearby Riverside Path and woodland edge. It will be an experimental session. We can then decide whether to do a comparative survey elsewhere, such as in Clifford or the much older Bramham churchyard.
Sun 11 July	Annual BBQ and Experimental Archaeology Workshop Part 2: Production of artefacts. (3.30 pm Treasurer’s garden.)
	see more... Part 2 is combined with the BBQ and social, with food and drinks part of the incredibly reasonable ticket price. It will focus on the actual production of artefacts with the materials prepared or tested in Part 1. (Venue: Treasurer’s Garden 3.30 pm.)
Sun 22 Aug	Visit: The Peak Alum Industry Site (Ravenscar). - Reserve Date 12 Sept
	see more... Details will be issued later about the arrangements for this trip. In our experimental weaving and dyeing activities last year the importance of a mordant to fix colours was made clear. Alum was tremendously important in this respect for a long time. It also had uses in other industries too. At the site there is clear evidence to be seen of mining on the cliffs, the buildings used in processing and on the beach evidence of the tracks and harbourage that were made in order to get the raw ingredients in for processing and the alum products out. The Alum Industry at Ravenscar Visitor's Overview of Peak Alum Works
Thu 30 Sept	Annual General Meeting (plus reviews and remaining AGA topics)
	see more... We will try to keep the AGM business as brief as we can, while making sure there is the opportunity for members to discuss future activities etc. The rest of the meeting will be made up of any reviews, AGA topics or updates which emerge during the year.
Thu 28 Oct	Helen Cox: From Wakefield to Towton: Battles of the Wars of the Roses
	see more... The topic of this meeting is self-explanatory. Recent discoveries give it a local history angle as well as an archaeological one.
Thu 25 Nov	Yvonne Luke (English Heritage): New Light on Ingleborough Hill Fort.
	see more... Yvonne Luke (Historic Environment Field Adviser, English Heritage) has done a lot of fieldwork in the Yorkshire Dales. She has some new and interesting theories about the origins of Ingleborough hill fort. People usually categorise it as an Iron Age feature. But could it be even earlier?
Thu 9 Dec	Christmas Social: Food, drink, quiz & entertainment. A new venue will be booked for this year.
Plus:	Ongoing work: - Dam House site investigations. - Stone Gatepost Group: Clifford cum Boston township survey. - Moat House project. - Archaeobotanical Surveys (Spring / Summer? Dates to be announced.)
	see more... Coppiced trees cannot be dated by the usual methods of dating trees by girth measurements etc. because the process of coppicing has a regenerative effect on them. We hope to be involved in some pioneering and experimental survey work led by Barry to date trees and coppice stools by dendrochronological cores taken from the base. This is similar to the archaeological technique for dating timber used in buildings, except that a date can be obtained by counting the rings along the core rather than comparing the patterns of rings with a known data base of growth patterns. More about that from Barry another time. There may be other archaeobotanical surveys too, eg. the Clifford Township southern boundary walk.
Also:	Other possibilities for this year or next (if there is interest): - Erik Matthews has offered a weekday tour of one or two of the extant old Leeds Mills. - Clifford old southern boundary hedgerow survey walk. Locality rich in history and species. - Visit to Aldborough Roman site at Boroughbridge might be arranged. - Visit by an ad-hoc small group to North Yorkshire Heritage and Records Office at Northallerton to follow up Sean’s suggestion for further research around the Moat house project, if a small group would be interested in this (two, three or four members).