Why has this gate gone out of use? One reason is it’s dimensions are such that it is too small to accommodate modern farm vehicles. Even tractors of 50 years ago would not have squeezed through. Another is the change in use of the land. Today, the area beyond the gate is a small woodland where the adults walk their dogs and children of the parish roam and play. This has not always been the case. The woodland forms part of a small dale called Kid Tor Dale or Kitty Dale (Kittyd

Large upright stones (orthostats) forming part of a linear feature at Gardom’s edge near Baslow. Yes, it’s that time of year again already. On Saturday I made the annual pilgrimage to the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield home of Derbyshire Archaeology Day for a number of years now. This year I had an extra reason for attending . . . I was giving a presentation on the work we’ve been doing at Peeling back the Layers. More of that later. As ever there was an eclectic mix of

Discussions start on some of the results of excavations by local societies. Last Saturday saw me in Salford, in the Grade II listed Peel Building of the University to be exact, for this year’s Greater Manchester Archaeology Day. The day’s programme looked to have something of interest for everyone, and so it proved. First up was Barney Devine of Battles Bricks and Bridges an award winning project from Co Fermanagh in Ulster. Not very Manchester I hear you say! Perhaps not, bu

Now that the summer is just a distant memory many people think that archaeologists move indoors and do other things. Well, in part they do. The project we have been involved in – Peeling Back The Layers – has reached the stage where we are analysing finds, writing reports and working on producing new workshops for local schools to update them on the project. The pottery that we found had been examined by Jon Goodwin over in Stoke-on-Trent where he is Senior Planning Officer r