Friends of Middleton Park
Archaeological Survey
Project Background
The Friends of Middleton Park (FoMP) were formed in 2003 to promote local interest and involvement in the park and its woodland. They identified a need for further understanding of the historic mining remains in the park and proposed a community archaeology project to investigate these remains. It was realised that these remains are little understood by the general public and that future management of the park would benefit from knowing more about the archaeology that it contains.
Meerstone Archaeological Consultancy, due to their expertise in historic mining, have been contracted to run a community archaeology project to record and understand the archaeology of the park.
Location
Middleton Park is located approximately 5km south of Leeds city centre and covers an area of 254 hectares. English Nature has defined woodland in the park as consisting of 82.5 hectares of ancient semi-natural woodland. Two areas of the park have been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument due to the presence of historic coal mining remains.
Project Details
Running over the winters of 2006-7 and 2007-8 the objectives of the survey are to gather sufficient information to establish presence/absence, character, extent, state of preservation and date of any archaeological features and deposits within the survey areas.
This project aims to provide a detailed record and account of the archaeological remains associated with historic mining, located within woodland in Middleton Park. It will increase the public understanding of the site and make a substantial contribution to the local communities' sense of heritage.
An indirect benefit of this project is that it will also provide a firm basis for future management of the park that would aid future management plans and allow them to consider the possible effects of the management of the park and its woodland on the archaeological field monuments.
Summary of the Project So Far
Season one has recorded 340 individual features, including 272 shaft mounds, other features include wagon ways, earthworks, and hollow ways defining old trackways. Documentary research has also been undertaken using both primary and secondary resources.
The First Season (2006/2007) Interim Report is available here as a PDF* download:
2006/2007 First Season Interim Report (PDF*, 9.7MB)
This project is funded by a Your Heritage Lottery Grant and has been supported by Leeds City Council: Parks and Countryside, Northern Mine Research Society, West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service and English Heritage.
*The Adobe Acrobat PDF format is standard for both PC and Apple Mac computers, and you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software in order to view the documents. This software can be downloaded for free from the Adobe web site.