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little man lonscale and latrigg high and airy shallow trials left abandoned by gibraltar crag echoes of peninsular wars of succession greater rock possessed by force of arms down barkbeth gill ghostly figures below broad stand white horse across the mired track into the mist jet black fell pony and sled fade some notes like several ancient slate quarries the workings on the edge of randal crag terrace became evident when the sled runs were exposed in low oblique light i have as yet found no reference to these quarries in the literature for those interested the books of ian tyler alasdair cameron and john adams amongst others provide a more in depth research into the subject of lake district quarrying and mining there are other slate quarries on the skiddaw slate series but none at such altitude the main workings are at between 650 700 m although the trials adjacent to gibraltar crag are at about 850 m aod making them the highest slate workings in the lake district perhaps why they were not developed further despite this there are extensive areas that have been worked as hollows or open top delphs on the terrace and more developed quarries on the steep scarp slope of randal crag some notes on terminology old men was a miners term used for the early miners a river was a chisel used to split the slate along with a mell which was a hardwood mallet sometimes iron bound thus the river or splitter splits the slate and the dresser shapes it with a dresser was someone who finished the slates with a whittle and slate anvil on workings of this scale the job of the river and dresser were probably merged a clog was a very large lump of slate a tully was similar to a wood splitting axe with a blade on one side and sledgehammer head on the other for breaking the clog into manageable lumps the trail barrow was a sled used to transport the finished slate down the sled run to the loading dock where they would have been transferred to a horse drawn sled or cart horse drawn iron runnered sleds were often used in the fell country as they were more stable than carts on the rough and steep terrain a kytel coat was a heavy cotton working jacket finished slates being sledded down bull gill honister in a trail barrow whilst these workings were likely to be worked on an intermittent basis and given the exposure not worked all year this would have been a hard life with little shelter whilst quarrying and only an open fronted riving shed for shelter when sat on the ground splitting or dressing the slate in this instance all the production would have taken place on the fellside so no unnecessary weight needed to be taken down the sled run of course the sled then had to be dragged back up the scree there is no bothy apparent at the site so it must be concluded that they walked up to work here every time they quarried some slate the period of activity of these quarries is uncertain however there are certain indicators that suggest these are quite early workings the workings are relatively small scale so likely to be pre industrialisation also the track that used to go down barkbethdale had an enclosure wall built across it by the 1862 1 st ed os so would not function as a track it is quite probable gibraltar crag was named by the slaters working the trials there and may relate to major current events either the ceding of gibraltar to britain in 1713 treaty of utrecht or the peninsular wars of the early 19 th century the earlier date would fit with the increased demand for slate as a consequence of the great rebuilding of the late 17 th early 18 th century thus prior to the increased production of the like of the honister mines or elterwater quarries and the use of blasting in 1689 a geographer mr john adams built a hut on skiddaw of a sufficient size to contain his telescopes and optic glasses whereby he was enabled to give a better description of the two counties but being arrested by his engraver and death soon following his labours were lost the description of the site of the hut towards the northern extremity of this stupendous mountain where chasms of enormous depths in the bowels of the mountains forming steeps of slaty silver yawn upwards with frightful grin and threaten to swallow inferior hills tallies with the most northerly summit on the skiddaw ridge where with a keen eye the vestiges of the footings of a wall about 4m long might be discerned adjacent to the modern cairn ripples under the rails july 31 2020 industrial archaeology railway history 2 comments ripples under the rails beneath the crusty cast pillars frozen ridges in russetty rock relic of forgotten tides ebbing from the foreshore compressed moment in time stasis from under the earth drilled blown and split cut and dressed mallet and cold chisel lifted block and tackle to wagon and rail lifted and lowered jointed bedded and faced beached above high water breached by winter gales facing the shifting strands of the surging sea mudstone moulded from silty sand reformed in angular conformity stanchions standing still memories of a weighty feat steam drove piles deep down spanning the divide girder beams and rails run over the estuary building problems sinking on the heathery bog a mile of iron y to carry its ore shiny ruddy haematite across northwards elemental forces test its metal water freezes split columns ice floes collide and crash broken bridge mended revived by world war carrying the seeds of death south years of labour s lost helplessly hoping for peace wee free bridge bowness beer on sundays john barleycorn calls across the waters wobbling back over sleepers to alba sabbath man is full of ale linking former foes the solway viaduct before bouche s ill fated tay bridge lesser losses tumbled to the brackish water when brunlee s bridge was broken up no mcgonagall opus to immortalise the decaying remains across the brackish solway embanked piers still reach out from both sides of the eden notes the solway viaduct was opened in 1869 as part of the solway junction railway crossing the solway estuary between bowness on solway and annan and linked to the maryport to carlisle and the caledonian lines its original purpose was to transport iron ore from cumberland to the ayrshire and lanarkshire ironworks the viaduct was the longest in europe at the time a total length of just over 1 mile the piles and columns were constructed of 2 892 tons of cast iron using a steam pile driver the superstructure was of girder construction using a further 1 807 tons there were 193 spans of 30 feet each surprisingly perhaps it was the crossing of the raised bog at bowness that provided the bigger challenge in construction of the line in the building of the bridge port carlisle already struggling was effectively shut off from any larger shipping and silloth became the port for carlisle thursby born thomas bouche engineer of the first tay bridge was not given the contract for the railway or viaduct despite having constructed several cumbrian and westmorland railway lines and viaducts however this was perhaps fortunate given the disastrous bridge failure that led to the tay bridge disaster constructed ten years after the solway viaduct despite this the solway viaduct was not without its troubles in the severe winter of 1875 water froze in the columns splitting several of them these were repaired but in the next severe winter of 1881 ice floes came down the eden and esk piling up and refreezing into icebergs up to 6 feet thick some 27 yards square odd feet across these battered the stanchions and around 300 were broken leaving a damaged length of 3 400 yards these were again repaired despite this obvious shortcoming economically the line made a good start but business tailed off as this was a second line to the caledonian line in 1914 it closed to passenger traffic and had a brief spell of profitability during the first world war due to its proximity to the armament s factories at eastriggs it was finally closed in 1931 although still used by people to cross over to drink beer at bowness on sunday it was finally demolished in 1934 three men died during demolition when a boat capsized surprisingly though no deaths were recorded in its construction the iron was sold to japan who it is said used it to strengthen their arsenal of military hardware prior to the second world war photographs of the extant viaduct can be seen here http http www cumbria railways co uk solway_viaduct html credit old photograph of solway viaduct d s barrie aston barrie 1932 p 27 the un hugged homestead december 6 2017 iron age landscape late prehistoric settlement neolithic artefacts roman settlement leave a comment beneath the ochrous clay banks the derwent river flows over salmon spawning glacial gravels meandering from mountain to sea draining distant skiddaw s icy cloud capped slatey slopes a horned oxbow curls round the plain s rim distant memories rise first settlers moonlit shadows fires glimmering on mercury silvered surface deer hide drumming chanting dancing a gathering ceremony in gravel banked henge propitious offering at waters meet fresh fired carinated crock of grain cast into water hissing floats steams shatters and settles returned to its riverine source a fragmentary moment precious seeds strewn scattered constellations on mirrored firmament ages pass river terrace thatched earth roundhouse woollen clad brigantian stands sentinel rough black dog guards the flock gatekeeper gazes north from a gap in the pale across the confluence of waters and cultures new bridge fecund offerings auger well pacify those passing south on the paved way borderlands changes derventio enclosed with dressed stone walls rectangular roman homes luxuriant laconicum mosaic floors and painted walls fine wines exotic food tales of distant lands people of many races mills streets and trade new era now the land moves old oaks cloak the homestead man made mountain is raised gateway breached no silbury hill this but the laureates leafy crown of irony upheaval promontory becomes peninsular jutting out into sea of churned earth battlefield of bulldozed boulders broken trees and mud surrounded by palisades of doused timber enclosed with walls of stone and baked clay tracks of black bitumen new trails cross the domain no holloways here over run and overlooked river terrace mauled dug dragged and dumped transformed into terraced homes scaffolding poles rise spears daring to defy the territory in the woods hinds scatter echoes of woodland industry linger domestic reminders the lost shepherd gazes down the road bewildered placatory bronze offering the flock is gone collies teeth clack at passing cars monument or folly the land has paid the price where roman soldiers stamped across planks girder and concrete now flyover water constrained in plastic pipe burrows bluely to moorside gravelly groves in storm washed field reminders of inundations fells deforested changing climate rich store for cairn builders long gone sacrifices must be made unseen in dark woods wrapped in brick and burnt limestone marooned by road and railing forgotten behind the barrow no huggers here to embrace this hilltop homestead notes and acknowledgements although not on such a grand scale as its better known relation old oswestry hillfort and the worthy campaign to protect it from the encroachment of housing estates nevertheless fitz park settlement demonstrates what can become of our heritage when profit is put before heritage whilst there is an inevitable degree of speculation in the narrative created above it is based on archaeological and historical analysis which i provide some links for below during archaeological evaluations prior to construction of the laureates housing development dozens of pieces of a single early neolithic carinated bowl were found dated to c 3700 bc from a grain of emmer wheat in what was interpreted as a votive offering in a former oxbow lake on the flood plain further details can be found here carinated bowl found at fitz park development archaeological research services ltd 2015 fitz park settlement is a late prehistoric romano british enclosed settlement of modest proportions which is described here excavations around the site failed to identify any other archaeological remains and can be seen here the consequence of this development is that this scheduled ancient monument is now surrounded on three sides by a housing development which it appears will come to within two metres of its earthworks the surrounding fence was broken down the roman road south to the port at ravenglass must have passed close by the fitz park settlement which overlooks the likely former confluence of the rivers cocker and derwent the latter was said to be recut in the 13 th century to provide greater defence for cockermouth castle now somewhat ironically being undermined by it and being to some extent responsible for the inundations of the modern town it seems the roman town was situated at the old confluence as a consequence of the 2009 floods extensive roman remains were discovered on the floodplain below the roman fort of derventio at papcastle opposite including a water mill this led to the discovering derventio heritage lottery funded project which can be found here amongst the discoveries made during subsequent surveys and excavations bathhouses and bridge buttresses along with fertility offering were found these were mainly in the riverside fields known as broomlands an intriguing unexplained feature was also identified in the geophysical survey here an enigmatic sub circular gravel and clay bank clearly hengiform yet apparently roman in origin and can be seen here whilst current interpretations suggest this is not a neolithic henge it is interesting none the less and given the siting of other henges at river confluences regionally at mayburgh and the suggested connections with irish henges bradley watson 2009 it would seem quite possible there was such like here perhaps the feature described by askew in his 1872 guide to cockermouth in the second field on the broughton road on the left there are still some remains of an amphitheatre sadly now apparently under the bypass the concept of offerings in watery places to appease is undoubtedly and old one and continues to the present day and much has been written on the subject the big blue pipeline said to be laid to protect the freshwater mussels in the river ehen at a cost of 300 million at last count is actually considered locally as the unspoken secure water supply to the new nuclear power station to be built at moorside at the other side of cockermouth an archaeological evaluation of yet another large housing development in the town identified further evidence of prehistoric activity to the east of the river cocker in the form of a burnt mound clearly there was more going on here in prehistoric times than previously thought following storm desmond thousands of tons of gravel were deposited again in the fields do...