Rare local example of a Late Neolithic axe found at Catlow, May 2015. The tool was
manufactured from pale green volcanic tuff in the Langdale region of the Lake District.
These axes were manufactured in Cumbria in large numbers - many were highly polished,
possibly to be used as currency or as symbols of status. This particular example
was a workaday tool, exhibiting many scars from the heavy use it was put to in clearing
trees around Briercliffe and Catlow some 4,000 to 4,500 years ago.
Incised stone found at Catlow, June 2014. The pecked square panel design features
two serpents framing the head of a deity.
A selection of the tools etc. found recently in Burnley, Pendle and Gisburn by members
of the PDCAS
A similar example to the Catlow axe from the south - this one appears to have been
Another Langdale volcanic tuff tool - found within 100 metres of the axe above.
This indicates that the Langdale ‘factories’ were turning out tools other than axes.
The carving depicts a female head in profile with a serpent on either side (these
represent healing). This is possibly a depiction of the Roman goddess Salus - the
goddess of health, cleanliness and healing.
This deity came from an origin in the Greek goddess Hygieaia. Our particular carving
shows the goddess with the same hairstyle as Venus - possibly dating to around 200-300
Small Roman or Romano-British bust of local stone found by an ancient ford that connected
areas of Nelson and Brierciffe (Burnley).
Due to the damage sustained by river action the face is impossible to determine -
however, it is very possible that the artefact was placed in the river as a ritual
or votive offering.
Local stone artefact, again found beside a ford - displays five separate facets of
striking but the use or design is unknown.
Carved gritstone head found in wall at Briercliffe - possibly broken from a bust
or statue or could be a decorative item from the recent past. A large amount of original
plaster coating remains suggesting that the head has not spent much time exposed
to the elements or buried in the ground.
The face has a moustache and goatee beard, much in the Scandinavian style but, at
this stage, the head can only be said to be of indeterminable date.
Stylised ‘Celtic’ head found in Walverden Beck. The material is white limestone which
displays a number of linear fossil imprints - probably from flora or from the action
of nematodes many millions of years ago when the limestone was being laid down.
Celtic head carving found at Walverden by the author in the 1970s. The style of the
face is identical in style to Celtic heads found in numbers across Britain.
Example of a Celtic head from southern England
Bark found beneath a massive earthbound stone to the north of the village of Fence.
Sent to Oxford Archaeology North for lab test - confirmed as bark of the species
The bark was preserved through being pressure-trapped within a wet layer of boulder
clay. From contextual dating evidence elsewhere on the site the bark probably dates
to the Late Neolithic (2,000 to 2,500 BC)
Flint thumb scrapers from Castercliffe hillfort (Neolithic period)
Stone hoe found at Cock Leach, just outside of the Castercliffe hillfort.
Made of local sandstone the implement is one of two from the site - these would have
been mounted in a wooden frame and pulled along plough furrows by oxen to clear weeds.
Assorted flint and chert ‘wasters’ from the western flanks of Boulsworth Hill.
These are the ‘cores’ and manufacturing waste from the flint tool and weapon making
Stone figure in a Nelson garden. Appears to be a ‘cherubim’ holding a now missing
article. Possibly originally had wings - a Christian grave marker of unknown period
or a modern garden ornament?
D. Ormerod 2014
Palaeolithic flint hand axes used by the pre-Ice Age nomadic people perhaps 15,000
- 30,000 years ago.
This nice example of the head of a Romano-British deity is approximately 28cm in
height and was found at Spen Brook (Newchurch-in-Pendle). This is probably a representation
of the amalgamated Roman goddess Sulis with the Roman goddess Minerva .- Suils Minerva.
The head was originally found near to Tinedale Farm by members of the Nutter family.
A sacred well dedicated to St. Chad stands near to the find spot and this suggests
the possibility that the well was sacred during the Romano-British period.
Photograph courtesy of Joan Parsons
Chert implement from the area of Catlow Bottoms hillfort - probably a small version
of the Palaeolithic axe
Unusual fossil: located below Catlow Bottoms hillfort - this sandstone object has
been trimmed to a triangular shape.
The imprints appear to have been caused by sand settling on a random jumble of pebbles
Burnt chert and flint from below the Catlow Bottoms hillfort site.
The example bottom left of picture is black flint set within hardened clay - possibly
a form of daub from round house construction?
Local Artefacts and Tools Discovered 2014-2015
Large stone from a Bronze Age /Iron Age site on the Lancashire-Yorkshire border.
Yorkshire sandstone -probably a broken saddle quern stone or possibly used for tool
sharpening - the stone has been heavily marked and broken by plough action.
Examples of chert and black flint wasters from the same site as the sharpening stone
above. Far right are two flint scrapers - the paler flint is probably of Yorkshire
origin. The larger one is a well made black flint tool and has been worn smooth by
ABOVE LEFT: Coarse local clay pot sherds from the site above. The small piece in
the centre is hardened clay - probably a remnant of wattle-and-daub
ABOVE RIGHT: Two sherds of Roman Samian ware pott from the same site.
Another example of a sharpening stone. Coarse blue limestone with a distinct lateral
groove across the flat surface