Today we concentrated on the northern part of our survey area, on Crew Moor north of Bewcastle. A very wet day, so half the team stayed inside and caught up with essential paperwork and writing up field and survey data. Hamish, Bella and Tillie, led by Richard, went out with Mike Jackson, the local historian who has done a lot of research on Bewcastle parish. They walked over Crew Moor with him, using the GPS to locate sites that had previously been identified by him, and recording a few new ones.

They came back tired and wet, but having achieved a lot of good work in a single day. The sites from Crew Moor can now be added to all those we have found in the southern part of the survey area, over 60 so far. We certainly feel we have added something new to the story of the historic landscape of this area. A great effort by the team of Newcastle University archaeology students. We have met and talked to several of the local farmers whose land we were surveying. Almost all showed great interest in what we were doing, and we will certainly let them know what our final results are.

Tomorrow, we are all off to the Langholm Common Riding, just over the border into Scotland, to appreciate other cultural aspects of the borders. Will Elliott be brave enough to enter the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling? Watch this space……