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SLIDESHOW GIVEN AT TECHNICAL ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP MEETING IN MANCHESTER IN 2002
SLIDESHOW
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ABSTRACT
Mines,
what mines?
Evidence of a small scale mining enterprise and attitudes to it over the
centuries.
Abstract
The copper minerals at Alderley Edge are known to have been mined since
the Bronze Age (carbon dating c. 3800 bp). Copper
or lead was worked during the Roman era (probably 1st Century AD) and
sporadically from around 1693 until 1919. Despite
this long history, mining has always been on a small scale.
The evidence left has quickly disappeared and, if it were not for recent
field work, even more would probably have been lost.
Nevertheless, the argument for better
protection is growing and, recently, scheduling of part of the site as an
Ancient
Monument
has led to changes in methods employed by those working in the area.
This presentation will briefly describe the surface and underground
evidence remaining and show what may still be observed, despite the ravages of
time. The small scale of the
operation will be discussed and views will be expressed on how this influenced
the perception of the mines in the latter part of the 20th and early
21st centuries. The
presentation will also demonstrate and explain how the attitudes and techniques
of the resident mine exploration group (the Derbyshire Caving Club) have changed
over the last thirty years leading up to and including the Alderley Edge
Landscape Project run jointly by the Manchester Museum and National Trust
between 1996 and 1998. A further
aspect of the changing attitude to the investigation of the site is the number
of range of stakeholders involved and the way their views of and interaction
with the site have developed. Parallels
could be drawn with industrial archaeology on other mining related sites around
the country.
N J Dibben
13 May, 2002
