Pendleton Past and Present

Excavations at Carriers Croft

An Early Bronze Age Burial site at Pendleton, Lancashire

Pendelton’s earliest inhabitants can be traced back to the early Bronze Age. In the 1970s a burial site was found close to the side of Pendleton Brook in Pendleton. This was excavated by local volunteers and professional archaeologists. Unfortunately this excavation was never published. We have therefore been working through the excavation archive and the finds, now housed in the local museum, with the aim of publishing this site. We are now posting our findings on the web so that more people can learn about the site and Pendelton’s important heritage.

Location

The site lies behind "Carriers Croft" cottage at the western end of Pendleton village, opposite The "Swan with Two Necks" (figure 1). Pendleton Brook runs down the centre of the village street and a footbridge spans the brook in front of the cottage. An excavation trench 3m wide by 12m long was opened to the rear of the cottage. The trench was divided into four grids each 3m square (figure 2). Trial trenches were opened in the field opposite the Back Lane but no further evidence for Early Bronze Age activity was discovered.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The excavation trench together with the position of the grids overlaying the major finds is described in figure 2.