Annual Programme

PROGRAMME FOR THE YEAR 2011 (Meetings on Thursday Evenings at 7.30 pm at Boston Spa School, Room PE -- unless otherwise informed or shown below.)

Thu 27 Jan	Malcolm Barnes: Archaeology of Syria Part 1: Prehistoric to Roman
	see more... Julie and I visited Syria in late October 2010 on a two-week archaeological tour, visiting a whole range of sites - prehistoric, Roman, medieval, Islamic, Crusader and modern. Our English and Syrian guides were excellent and we took hundreds of photographs and many notes. This talk will be an opportunity to see a selection of these unusually well-preserved and unique sites, as well as hear about their history and way of life. At the time of writing preparation of the talk has only just begun. There are many sites and time periods one could cover. So I may decide to do the talk in two parts, the second the following year. We’ll see.
Sun 20 Feb	Barry Wright: Tree-Coring Activity 9.45 for 10.00 a.m. start Boston Spa Church
	see more... Barry writes: “The age of hedge shrubs and trees can be estimated with accuracy by counting the incremental rings. This can be done by examining the cut trunk or branch. But this is destructive and a better method is to bore into the timber using a specialised coring tool that removes a cylindrical core of wood 4mm in diameter and does minimal or insignificant damage to the tree in the process. In terms of its use in archaeo-botany the plan is to investigate hedge shrubs, trees and coppices to determine their ages. A laid hedge may have a thick laid stem and the vertical re-growth that developed after the laying operation. Finding the age of the laid stem will inform about the total age of the plant and looking at the vertical growth should give an estimate of how long ago the stem was laid. Coppices may not be datable based on counting the rings of their basal boles, but the current re-growth should inform about when the plant was last coppiced. And some small trees like Crab Apple may not be easily datable based on their trunk diameters as there is little published information on the growth rates of apples in the wild. Coring these will inform about whether the plants there at present were planted at the same time as the hedge, or if they are recent seedlings.” The investigation will begin with a field excursion in Boston Spa to sample and core a range of material. The locations will be chosen from sites where we have carried out previous work so that we can relate them to previous investigations.
Thu 24 Feb	Barry Wright: Presentation by Barry and group analysis of core samples
	see more... Following the field survey above, at this meeting Barry will brief us and the cores will be prepared and examined using microscopes (this may involve chemical stains so wear something suitable that you don't mind getting stained) to count the rings and interpret the data.
Thu 31 Mar	Christine Alvin and Eileen White: Ecology and Archaeology of Buck Wood
	see more... Our guest speakers will give us an account of a community investigation of ancient woodland close to the River Aire, which involved excavation of a prehistoric settlement site, carved stones, hut circles and enclosure ditches in Buck Wood. The woodland is situated in an important prehistoric landscape and has an interesting ecology. Information can be found on the LHI website by following the Project Directory links to Bradford and ‘A Breath of Fresh Aire’
Thu 28 Apr	John Aveyard: History and Excavation of Sandal Castle. More from the Wars of the Roses.
	see more... Following the talk last year on conflicts leading up to the battle of Towton, we will hear more about this turbulent period. Our guest speaker will be telling us about an extensive 1960s excavation he was involved in of Sandal Castle, one of the key strongholds of the Wars of the Roses. This will lead to our visit in May.
Sun 15 May	Helen Cox: Guided Tour of Sandal and Pontefract Castles (Meet Sandal Castle car park 10 am) Helen will be telling us about these two castles and relating them to previous talks.
	see more... Informal car-sharing recommended for this trip. Rough timetable for the day:- 10.00 am: Meet in the car park at Sandal Castle (directions attached) 10.00 - 12.30: Tour castle, visit monument/remains of battlefield, return to castle/visitor centre 12.30 - 1.30: Lunch (picnic at Sandal Castle, or book into Three Houses pub) c. 1.45 - 2.15: Drive over to Pontefract 2.15 - 3.15: Castle tour Sandal Castle Pontefract Castle Directions to Sandal Castle: Address: Sandal Castle, Manygates Lane, Sandal, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF2 7DG Take Junction 39 off the M1 motorway (A636 Denby Dale). Turn left off the slip-road onto the A636 Denby Dale Road, signed for Wakefield. Turn right at the B6378 roundabout (Asdale Road, signed for Pugney’s Country Park). Pass Pugneys on the left, continue past the large Asda supermarket and turn left at the double mini-roundabout onto Standbridge Lane (the A61 Barnsley Road). Continue to the traffic lights opposite the Three Houses public house and turn left, following the brown sign for Sandal Castle (Manygates Lane). The castle car-park is on the left c. 350m up Manygates Lane – beware the vicious speed-bumps! Directions to Pontefract Castle: Address: Pontefract Castle, Castle Chain, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF8 1QH By car from Sandal Castle: Turn left from Manygates Lane onto the A61 towards Wakefield. Turn right at the B6389 Agbrigg Road (just past the post office on the right). Turn right at the traffic lights onto the A638 Doncaster road. Where the road forks, bear left for the A645 to Pontefract. Remain on the A645 towards Knottingley and the Infirmary (Southgate), following the brown signs for Pontefract Castle. Look out for All Saints Church ahead on the left, and signs for the castle and car-park. Turn left at The Booths, up the cobbled hill; the car-park is on the left (4 hours free parking for visitors).
Thu 19 May	Experimental Archaeology Workshop Part 1: Experimentation and Preparation
	see more... As last year, a variety of activities have been chosen, the emphasis in Part 1 being on experimentation and preparation. We will be trying to make soap, paper, pens & ink. The soap, which first involves making a ‘lye’ from wood ash, is made from animal fats and plant oil. We may infuse the oils with herbs and flowers. Quill pens can be made from flight feathers of large birds. Ink from oak galls, wine vinegar, rusty nails. (Start collecting any of these things.)
Thu 30 June	Walk: Otley Chevin Trail (Geology, Ecology, History, Archaeology & pub) Meet 7pm at ‘Surprise View’ car park, Yorkgate (Road), near Otley.
	see more... This interesting walk is along the escarpment and ridge overlooking Otley and the Wharfe valley and covers examples of the aspects mentioned in our strap line. It even has a striking viewpoint and a good pub at the end of it. The plan is to meet in the car park at the end of the Otley Chevin Forest Park Geology Trail, then drive in half the cars to the start, do the trail and after a social drink ferry the drivers back to their parked cars at the start. (So, if this plan is to work we should arrive in cars only half filled to give us the flexibility for ferrying people from the meeting point to the start of the walk and then reverse the arrangement after the pub.) That way we don’t have to walk all the way back and we get a good walk and pub visit on a hopefully warm summer evening. We have spare copies of the Trail leaflet available in advance and on the night. Also, you can check it out at www.wyorksgeologytrust.org
Sun 10 July	Annual BBQ & Experimental Archaeology Part 2: Treasurer’s Garden 3.30 pm onwards.
	see more... We will continue and finish the work from the May workshop in a longer session which includes our annual BBQ.
Sun 28 Aug	Visit to Rydale Folk Museum (10.30 am) (or Sun Sept 4 depending on events)
	see more... Rydale Folk Museum is an established museum in the picturesque village of Hutton Hole, between Helmsley and Pickering. It covers the medieval and post medieval periods with a wealth of open-air exhibits on a three-acre site. On the August date they are hosting groups of re-enactors, including demonstrations of cooking, flint knapping, historical cooking and baking, wood turning and more. These are in addition to their permanent exhibitions of rural life. It is well worth a visit. Informal car sharing recommended for this trip. Ryedale Folk Museum
Thu 29 Sep	A.G.M.
	see more... We aim to keep the AGM business as short as possible and allow time for reviews and presentations relevant to activities or issues that crop up during the year
Thu 27 Oct	AGA (Above Ground Archaeology):
	see more... Above Ground Archaeology presentations already lined up include Liz on Chimneys and Paul on Lotherton. Others are being prepared. More information later.
Thu 24 Nov	Mike Turpin: Maritime Miscellany - 'Sayings from the Sea'
	see more... A meeting still in the making. This is how Mike summed up his initial thoughts: “Boston Spa is about as far from the sea as you can get in England, however I have a passion for all things naval. In my talk I hope to share some of this and to correct many of the misconceptions that people have about life at sea in the days of the great sailing warships. Much of our language has been influenced by the sea: when did you last have ‘a square meal’? Do you ‘toe the line’ and how frequently are you ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’? Discover the origins of these and many more sayings… That’s not to say that I won’t slip in bits about the archaeology and evidence gathering.” Could be another pioneering topic.
Thu 15 Dec	Christmas Social: Food, drink, quiz & entertainment. 7.15 pm Church Hall, St. Mary’s Church, High Street, Boston Spa.
Plus:	Ongoing work: Dam House site investigations Archaeobotanical surveys: including core dating of trees, hedges and coppices Moat House project Leys Lane / Deep Dale Project Stone Gatepost Group: Clifford-cum-Boston township survey.