Glossop’s Big Dig

What ho you wonderful people, you! But before we go on, some words…

MUDLARKING (verb)

The activity of searching the mud (= soft, wet ground) near rivers trying to find valuable or interesting objects.

POKE (verb)

To push a finger or other pointed object quickly into someone or something (Cambridge Dictionary)

A short one today (a lengthier one is in the pipeline), to announce the big news…. Glossop’s first Big Dig event. As some of you might know, I have been commissioned by Glossop Creates to develop a campaign involving their wonderful ‘Living Room‘ digital community archive (more about this soon). As a resident paired creative type (and Glossop’s premier sherd-botherer) I came up with a plan to get you all involved in what is shaping up to be an exciting project – The Big Dig.

So what is it?

Most of you who read this blog will already know that wherever you walk in Glossop – parks, footpaths, gardens, streams and brooks, allotments, etc. – there are bits of pottery and glass leaping like spring salmon out at you. This is the legacy of the Victorians and others, with them nightsoiling, dumping, or simply being littering oiks. However, what this stuff does is tell a story, as I like to show on the blog – each sherd was once part of a bigger vessel, and usually we can find a date and form for it. But each sherd is also a piece of social history, belonging to a person and a life, and is a part of the heritage of Glossop. And now I want you to all get involved in finding and understanding our shared history. Here’s how:

Well, firstly, don’t worry… it doesn’t involve any digging as such (so put down the shovels, mattocks, pickaxes, hoes, trowels, etc…. you look like a medieval angry mob. And you madam, step away from the JCB). It’s more a mudlark, a gentle poke about if you will (the phrase Glossop’s Gentle Pokeabout just didn’t have the same ‘zing’ as the ‘Big Dig’). I have prepared Big Dig packs that can be picked up from a number of places around the town, and which contain, amongst other objects, a wooden dessert spoon (for poking about) and a plastic zip lock bag (for the finds). So then…

1. Find a spot to mudlark. Think places like: your back garden, the allotment, a footpath, a hedgerow, an old quarry, a molehill, walking up a hill, walking down a hill, paddling in Glossop Brook, skateboarding at Manor Park. But don’t stray onto private land, and please stay away from protected archaeology – it is very illegal and not at all helpful to dig anywhere near Melandra Roman fort, for example – remember, we’re poking about, not excavating!
2. Poke about, using your spoon. A very useful tool is a spoon, and I carry one with me for just such occasions. Remember, no digging as such, just moving soil, turning over stones and twigs, shuffling spiders out of the way, poking at bits of pottery, stirring your tea, etc.
3. Place your finds into the supplied plastic bag – finds might include pottery (very common), stone, glass, wood, beads, bottles, metal, bone, leather, gold, The Holy Grail (less common), the Ark of the Covenant, and possibly Shergar. Importantly, write where you found the material on the outside of the bag. This bit is very important.
4. Hand the bag back to where you got it, and it’ll find its way to me, and then to the wider world.

The idea is that we’ll look at the material, give it a date and analyse it, and then enter the photographs and details onto the interactive map on the Living Room website here. Essentially, it’s the blog, but made larger, and involving you. You’ll be able to access the map and descriptions, and see the past come alive in the coming weeks and months. Please also enter your thoughts, feeling, stories, experiences, photographs and film about the Big Dig onto the website, too – I want this to be a truly community based experience. Also use the Twitter hashtag #GBD23 to get involved, we want to see your photographs of dirty hands and wonderful pottery bits.

There are, however, some things to be aware of:

1. Exercise common sense, and be aware of others around you. Be safe, especially around water, and remember pottery, and particularly glass, can have sharp edges.
2. Respect private property; your neighbour’s garden may have a Roman vase in it, but sadly unless you have their permission, it’s theirs. But you might have something better in yours.
3. It is especially important to stay away from Scheduled Ancient Monuments – Melandra Roman Fort, for example.

And a final message. If you fall in Glossop Brook, tear your trousers, get the whole family muddy, scratch your hands on blackberry bushes, and end up with half an old plate to show for it… good! That’s exactly what Glossop’s Big Dig is all about.

All joking aside, whilst a lot of this pottery will be fairly mundane, if interesting, Victorian bits and pieces, 17th and 18th century pottery is also quite common in the area, and that has the potential to change what we know about Glossop’s past, and at the very least suggest places for further research. This is the first step in a process that might lead… well, who knows where, but I have big plans. The kits will be available form Glossop Library from Tuesday 25th April (the first 50 bags will have exclusive ‘Glossop’s Big Dig‘ badges in them, courtesy of of the amazing people at Kin.Der). Come down and see us on the day, or pick one up from a number of other places in town. The Big Dig will be running for as long as people want to do it – the process begins immediately, but we will continue to upload material to the website, with periodical updates on the blog.

So then, it is with great honour and pomp that I invite you to become members of that most auspicious, exclusive, and frankly alarming, club – the ‘Sherd Herd‘ (badges and t-shirts forthcoming). And as chief Sherd Nerd, I implore you all to go forth, forage, and find, record where you find it, and get involved.

My thanks to the truly wonderful Glossop Creates for allowing this opportunity – they have some great plans for our town, and want to involve everyone. So let’s do this.

Until the next time, look after yourselves and each other. And go find things – #GBD23

I remain, your humble servant

TCG.