We're uncovering lots at our community dig at the Lime Kilns!
Our community dig at Marple Lime Kilns got off to an exciting start this week. The brilliant Sarah, Penny and Mandy from Salford University are working with our volunteers to try to uncover structures from the days when the lime kilns were operational – from the start of the 19th century - including a weigh house and a tramway (which was used to take lime from the lime kilns to Oldknow’s mill at Mellor).
The great news is that we have already found evidence of both. You can see pictures below of both the wall of the weigh house and the tramway starting to emerge:
We’ve had plenty of volunteers helping us – including a number of school groups, who have really loved getting their hands dirty in the mud! We even got a shout out on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show from one school party on their way to visit us…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ystcs
Skip to 2hr 59 minutes to hear our good old fashioned ‘ready, steady DIG!’ – thanks to Thorngrove School in Stockport. Mr Godwin from Thorngrove tells us that the class had a brilliant time – great to hear!
I spent the morning at the site on Tuesday, digging in trench 1 with two other volunteers, Marc and Kerry. We uncovered wall and flooring at the weigh house, and a few other bits and bobs including an iron pin and a piece of clay pipe. The morning was great fun – it really is satisfying to uncover something which has lain hidden for years, and to contribute to the understanding of the site.
Our community dig runs for the rest of this week and all of next week – come along and see what you can uncover! It’s free, all tools provided – you just need to book a place via our Eventbrite page:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/community-dig-at-marple-lime-kilns-tickets-28362862084?aff=es2
You don’t need any experience, as the team from Salford will tell you everything you need to know. You just need enthusiasm and a willingness to get your knees dirty…
