As I write I have in front of me an oyster shell, which you might think is nothing out of the ordinary, even given the cost of oysters today and the fact that I am a vegetarian.
But this oyster shell is over 1,000 years old and is still marked with the smears of earth when it was lifted from an archaeological site in the Viking part of York in the late ‘70s.
We had gone up for the day and been drawn to where there was a major dig underway. And beside the excavations in a tub for sale was my oyster shell, along with loads more, and the price reflected the quantity on show.
So I paid just 10p. Nothing can ever take away the feeling of excitement and awe at holding an object however so humble that was handled and causally thrown away by some so long ago.
I was reminded of this when I read of the plans to run a dig in Hulme at Birley Fields in March of this year. Hulme has a medieval history but for most of us it will be its 19th century landscape that we are more familiar with.
It grew quickly during those early decades of that century and some at least from Chorlton ended up there, either in the workhouse on Leaf Street or in the narrow terraced housing. Some even made the journey out to wander the lanes of our township, drink in the beer shops and pubs and to work on the farms.
Some are known to me like William Hodge who stood trial for the murder of local woman Mary Moore in the summer of 1838 who was killed on her way home from the Manchester markets just short of her destination at Dog House Farm.
Then there was James Jackson who lived in Hulme and was listed in the 1821-22 edition of Piggott and Dean’s New Directory of Manchester and Salford as Directory as a farmer and carrier. He owned 15 acres of land at Round Thorn which is the area north of Chorlton Brook roughly covering the stretch from the allotments and part of Chorlton Park down to Nell Lane but it was sold to in 1839 after he had gone bankrupt.
Now this isn’t the archaeology which will bring up a Roman coin or Viking oyster shell but it I reckon it will be exciting. Later in the year I plan to write about our own archaeological dig in the parish graveyard during the late 1970s and early ‘80s.
But in the meantime I will leave you with this scene.
Picture the coffee bar of the Urbis in town, with the usual group of mid morning people sipping their lattes and tapping on their lap tops or talking to friends. In one corner there are two retired teachers acting like naughty school children giggling over their latest prank.
And this was exactly what we had just been engaged in.
My old friend Joe and I had been to Millar Street where they were finishing off an excavation of late 18th and early 19th century working class homes, hard by the CIS building. This wasn’t a day for visitors but we seemed harmless enough, were clearly very enthusiastic and above all over 60, so no danger of causing trouble.
We were politely shown round allowed to take pictures and at the end to the benign smiles of the archaeologists permitted to walk away with a brick each. Handmade, sometime I guess in the 1780s they were as much a treasure as any gold coin or piece of jewellery. Mine has pride of place on one of our bookshelves, and before we are accused of looting, the other piles of bricks were all destined for infilling and yes we had asked.
So there you have it two little pieces of history separated by 900 years give a take a decade and still guaranteed to excite me.
Later I will post a story on these and other excavations of working class homes in Manchester & Salford.
Picture; cellar dwellings at the Miller Street dig October 2009, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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