| Description | Site description up until 2003 (prior to Blaise Vyner Consultancy survey of 2004 see below):
Site of uncertain date and nature, comprising a series of earthworks described by Mr. D. W. Aldridge as levelled earth circles and hollow ways in what he calls Haigh Spring Wood, though the area in which he marks these earthworks is named Mellor Wood on modern O.S. map. 1st ed. 6 O.S. map sheet no.260 shows Mellor Wood as woodland at c.1850. Query whether on 1634 Estate Map, this woodland is that area shown planted with trees and called `Widow Haigh's Spring'; the location of the latter appears to be to the south of Mellor Wood (on modern O.S.) and Mr. Aldridge has perhaps equated Mellor Wood with `Haigh Spring'. 1634 map also shows field immediately east of last named `Three Banck Closes'. N.B. Letter from WY Unit of 1/2/1980 told Mr. Aldridge that member of Unit would visit site; no record in SMR that any visit ever occurred. Until field visit takes place, little more can be said on this site; it is possible that the earthworks are quarry spoil and associated trackways.
In 2004 an archaeological survey of Mellor Wood was undertaken by Blaise Vyner Consultancy (see PRN 9152). During this survey, six of the circular earthworks mentioned above were identified as probable charcoal burning platforms, five of which measured c.10m in diameter and one of which measured 16m. They also identified three associated hollow ways aligned east to west, which probably served as extraction routes. Charcoal was produced within the woods and then transported to the forges, where it was the principal fuel during the medieval and later medieval periods (Vyner, 2004). |