| DATE(s) | TIME | LOCATION | ACTIVITY | DETAILS | CONTACT |
01-08-2024 | 11:00 am | Roman Army Museum. SatNav postcode CA8 7JB | Magna Fort and Roman Army Museum, including an escorted visit to the current excavation at Magna Roman Fort | Meet at the museum at 1100. Tickets can be bought online in advance, or at the door. We can explore the museum in our own time and get a light lunch in the cafe. The site archaeologist will meet us at 2.30 for an escorted visit to this summer’s excavation. The site is naturally damp and appropriate footwear is needed.
Directions
A69: Leave following signs for Roman Army Museum (near village of Greenhead). Circa 20 miles from Hexham, Circa 42 miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne (A1), Circa 28 Miles from Carlisle (M6).
Alternative Scenic Route: Roman Army Museum can also be reached from the B6318. If you are using at Sat Nav, please use CA8 7JB as our postcode, however, please use the road signs to The Roman Army Museum when you are in the local area to take you to the main entrance."
| Please contact rod@swaag.org to confirm your attendance. | 14-08-2024 | | | No meeting | As usual we do not plan to have a meeting in August. | | 07-09-2024 | 9:45 am to leave at 10:00 am | Outside the Gift Shop on Reeth Green | What The Landscape Tells Us. A guided walk around Reeth and Grinton lead by Alan Mills | The history of a locality is embedded in the local landscape, from the obvious such as buildings and roads, to the more subtle such as old field boundaries, faint prehistoric features or perhaps obvious features which are just not recognised for what they are.
This short walk of around 2½ miles, taken at a leisurely pace, begins on Reeth Green then progresses to Grinton, along Swale Hall lane, the 'corpse way' and returns via the Swing Bridge (the diversion if still closed). On the way we will see evidence of a planned village, the outline of a Romano-British / Iron Age settlement, an earlier road system, a medieval settlement, two corn mills, a medieval bridge, prehistoric dykes, a Bronze-Age tumulus, a burnt mound, a tufa quarry and a medieval field system. All in 2-3 hours ! | Anne Jowett at swaagwalks@gmail.com | 10-09-2024 | 7.30 | The Buck, Reeth | Talk | Dr Richard Smith is the Editor of the Northern Mine Research Society's journal, British Mining. He is particularly interested in medieval smelting. This evening his talk is on Arthur Raistrick's contribution to mining history. Dr Raistrick (1896-1991) was a polymath; geologist, archaeologist, academic and writer. A scholar in many fields, he published some 330 articles, books, pamphlets and scholarly treatises. Later in life he was a pioneer of industrial archaeology, making a particularly significant contribution to the understanding of the development of lead mining in the Pennines. His two books on mining and smelting in Swaledale and Wensleydale, published 50 years ago, still provide a useful introduction to the industrial heritage of this region. | info@swaag.org | 21-09-2024 | 10:15 am for 10:30 am | The Rukin Car Park, Keld. £2 / day fee is payable | Geology Walk lead by Les Knight | This walk will be on good tracks and is of approx 2miles, locally steep. Needs a packed lunch . The walk will include a discussion of some of the glacial features around Keld and the geology exposed in the Kisdon Gorge. The mines and their history around Crackpot Hall and the Swinnergill smelt mill will be discussed.
| Anne Jowett - swaagwalks@gmail.com | 08-10-2024 | 7.30pm | The Buck, Reeth | AGM and Talk | The SWAAG AGM will be followed by some short talks by members. Details to be confirmed shortly. This will be our last evening face-to-face meeting of 2024. In November we will return to Zoom. | info@swaag.org | 12-11-2024 | 7.30pm | Zoom | Talk | Ian Earnshaw, a SWAAG member, will be giving a presentation about "East Yorkshire, Before and During the Dark Ages - Does anyone actually know who lived there?". This talk will be on Zoom only. | info@swaag.org | 10-12-2024 | | | | We are looking into having a lunch time social event sometime in December (not necessarily on the 10th). The date and the venue have yet to be confirmed. | info@swaag.org |