Digging up the past

16:37, 05 Mar 2009

About 20 people helped Nottinghamshire County Council archaeologists uncover the oldest terraced homes in Jacksdale, a canal and a tramway during a recent excavation.

Photo of archaeologists at work in Jacksdale. The excavation aimed to research and record the industrial archaeology of Jacksdale’s wharf.  It uncovered the foundations of houses on what was Stone Row, built in the early 1800s and demolished in 1968, and showed how those houses had changed over the years, with the addition of outside toilets and new floors, for example.  The 19th century wharf, wharf buildings, canal basin and tramway were also exposed.

Full details will be published in a report later this year and a summary will be available on the Council’s website.

During the dig, local schoolchildren had the opportunity to visit the site and explore Jacksdale's history. The excavation was funded by £25,000 from the Council’s Building Better Communities scheme.

Heritage trail

The tramway will now be turned into a heritage trail by the Portland Path Project, which aims to discover more about the history of the tramway embankment (between the colliery at Kirkby and Stanton Ironworks) and conserve it.

Councillor Steve Carroll, Cabinet Member for Culture and Regeneration, said: “This community project looked at a unique aspect of industrial archaeology.  The tramway embankment, built of waste from the nearby Codnor Park Ironworks, is the only example of its type in England.  People were able to come along for just half a day or the entire dig.  Most were from Jacksdale but we also got volunteers from further afield, including some from archaeological and historical societies.”

Adding to the community's knowledge of the past

Councillor Chris Baron, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, said: “We were only too happy to fund this community excavation through the Building Better Communities scheme.  Local people wanted the excavation to happen and were keen to get actively involved as well.  They have added to the community’s knowledge of its past and, when the heritage trail is completed by the Portland Path Project, that will be another asset for Jacksdale.”

Councillor Joan Taylor, who represents the Selston electoral division, said: “We had a wide age range of volunteer archaeologists, from children to older people, and I would like to thank every one of them for taking part.  I hope they enjoyed it, despite the weather.  I very much enjoyed visiting the site myself and seeing part of Jacksdale’s past uncovered for the first time in over a hundred years.”

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