Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 Mellor: Living on the Edge A Regional Study of an Iron Age and Romano-British Upland Settlement Edited by Michael Nevell and Norman Redhead Mellor: Living on the Edge A Regional Study of an Iron Age and Romano-British Upland Settlement Edited by Michael Nevell and Norman Redhead Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) The University of Manchester Archaeological Unit The Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit and the Mellor Archaeological Trust Mellor: Living on the Edge Copyright Individual Authors First published 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission from the authors Typeset by UMAU and printed by Q3 Digital Loughborough, Leicestershire Published by The University of Manchester Field Archaeology Centre ( incorporating the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit and the Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit) and the Mellor Archaeological Trust ISBN 0-9527813-6-0 2 Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) Mellor: Living on the Edge Dedicated to the memory of Sarah Whitehead a mature student of archaeology at the University of Manchester and a volunteer on the Mellor site, who tragically died, together with her eight-year old daughter, in a road accident in June 2005. Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) 3 Mellor: Living on the Edge Contents Foreword Councillor Mark Hunter 7 Preface: Living on the Edge 9 Robina McNeil Chapter 1 Introduction: Archaeology at Mellor 1998 to 2004 11 John & Ann Hearle Chapter 2 The Mellor Excavations 1998 to 2004 17 Peter Noble & Adam Thompson Chapter 3 Mellor: A Review of the Later Prehistoric Ceramics 35 Christopher Cumberpatch, Alison Walster, Rob Ixer, & Elaine Morris Chapter 4 Mellor: The Romano-British Pottery 1998-2003 43 Ruth Leary Chapter 5 Mellor: its Local and Wider Archaeological Significance 49 Norman Redhead Chapter 6 Late Prehistoric Lowland Settlement in North West England 65 Ron Cowell Chapter 7 Romano-British Rural Settlement in the Dee-Mersey Region. Some Themes 77 Rob Philpott Chapter 8 Iron Age and Roman Settlement in the Peak District 87 Bill Bevan Chapter 9 Overcoming Splendid Isolation. Trans-Pennine Trade in the Roman Period and the Role of Mellor in Re-Uniting a Divided Landscape 99 Peter Connelly Chapter 10 Towards an Understanding of the Rural Economy and Society of the Iron Age and Romano-British Landscape of the Mersey Basin and Southern Pennines 107 Michael Nevell & John Roberts Bibliography 119 Index 125 Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) 5 Mellor: Living on the Edge List of Authors Bill Bevan Peak District National Park Peter Connelly University of Manchester Archaeological Unit Dr Ron Cowell National Museums Liverpool Dr Christopher Cumberpatch Freelance Archaeologist Anne Hearle Mellor Archaeological Trust Prof John Hearle Mellor Archaeological Trust Dr Rob Ixer University of Leicester Ruth Leary Independent Pottery Specialist Dr Elaine Morris University of Southampton Robina McNeil County Archaeologist, Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit Dr Michael Nevell Director, University of Manchester Archaeological Unit Peter Noble University of Manchester Archaeological Unit Dr Rob Phipott National Museums Liverpool Norman Redhead Assistant County Archaeologist, Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit John Roberts University of Manchester Archaeological Unit Adam Thompson University of Manchester Archaeological Unit Alison Walster Aardvark Conservation 6 Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) Mellor: Living on the Edge Foreword It has been a pleasure to see the archaeological investigations around Mellor Old Vicarage grow from a small scale student dig into a fully fledged communi- ty excavation. Such has been the importance of the finds that the Mellor Ar- chaeological Trust was able to attract a number of the region’s leading archaeol- ogists to speak at the Study Day in April 2003, which has inspired this publica- tion. The Council is delighted to have supported the Mellor project, whose success comes as a result of the enthusiasm and hard work of all those who have taken part. We would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund through their ‘Local Heritage Initiative’ and ‘Your Heritage’ programmes for providing grant aid and making the project possible. The staff at the University of Manchester Archaeo- logical Unit and members of the Mellor Archaeological Trust are to be congrat- ulated for their enterprise and expertise. Stockport Council is committed to protecting the historic environment and engaging its communities in the process of understanding, cherishing, and man- aging their local heritage. These aims and ambitions have recently been set out in the Council’s ‘Conservation Strategy’ document. The Mellor project provides an excellent ‘role model’ for the way in which a local community can galvanise its considerable human resources to work with funding bodies, the local author- ity, and experts to provide a dynamic and exciting local heritage project. I have been astonished, along with thousands of other visitors to the site, at the story of Prehistoric and Roman settlement that has emerged from the exca- vations, in an area where there was little or no previous knowledge of these pe- riods. The Council welcomes this publication which will be of great local inter- est and national academic importance. Councillor Mark Hunter Leader of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council July 2005 Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) 7 Mellor: Living on the Edge Preface Living on the Edge Robina McNeil ellor is an exceptional archaeological It brings together papers delivered to a study day M phenomenom. The site itself, essentially an held in the spring of 2003. Iron Age settlement, was only discovered some ten It is also the first volume in the new Manchester years ago. Its investigation has been the result of an Archaeological Monographs series. As such it has extrordinary partnership between an enthusiastic been conceived as a successor to the Manchester local trust and the University of Manchester. Archaeological Bulletin, a regional journal of Excavations have revealed exciting discoveries, often archaeological work from the University of in almost surreal situations, such as a deep defensive Manchester which ran for ten volumes under the ditch hidden beneath an almost flat surburban lawn. guidance of the late Professor Barri Jones from 1987 Its greatest distinction, however, is the importance of to 1995. This new series will publish original the site and its associated archaeology to broader excavation material, survey data and conference conceptual understanding of the development of proceedings undertaken by archaeologists from the societies and the methodological study of such University of Manchester on subjects of all periods. developments. However, it will also seek to publish work that has a The settlement at Mellor belongs to a ‘proto distinctive archaeological, theoretical, and metho- historical’ period, the later British Iron Age, one dological outlook with a bias towards the late where we have glimpses of a society afforded by prehistoric/Romano-British landscape and towards references in classical texts but where we rely upon the archaeology of the industrial transition. Thus, archaeology for the greater part of our understanding future volumes in preparation include an overview of and any increase in that understanding. Such societies the excavations on Roman Manchester since 2000 were a particular interest of the late Professor Barri and the proceedings of a major conference on the Jones who characterised the difficulty of working in archaeology of the Lancashire textile industry held in this area in his preface to the 1999 monograph Living Blackburn in 2004. on the Edge of Empire: Models, Methodology and , Marginality. Late Prehistoric and Romano-British Rural The 2003 Study Day in focusing upon Mellor, Settlement in North-West England as follows: provided an opportunity to present the results of ‘The central problem of proto-historical continuing Iron Age and Romano-British studies. It archaeology lies in establishing convincing followed in the enquiring tradition of Barri Jones interpretive links between partial written sources, who always sought to ask questions as a means of material culture and its associated society. Nowhere, seeking explanations. Excavations are one of the key perhaps, is this interpretive problem more complex, mechanisms employed by archaeologists in order to thanks to the one-sided historical sources, than at the pose questions and the determination of where and interface between conquerors and conquered, the how to excavate is therefore of critical importance. interface between conquest, cultural continuity and In 1999 Barri Jones asserted that `there is no social change’. replacement, in my opinion, for systematic sample It is the strength of the extrordinary site at Mellor excavation, and our job in the next decade is to that its complex, multi-phased, settlement enabled decide how we can best apply such a policy’ (Jones the present volume to be conceived as a successor to 1999, 95). In identifying Mellor and then co- that 1999 work. However, the present volume, unlike operating with the University of Manchester, the its predecessor, is based entirely upon one location. members of the Mellor Archaeological Trust enabled Manchester Archaeological Monographs Volume 1 (2005) 9 Mellor: Living on the Edge