Research Agenda 2008

Any organisation like ours needs a research agenda. Members of CCA have worked on this with archaeologist Paul Frodsham, and have come up with some proposals that will develop into more detailed programmes.

We had to pick topics of archaeological merit and that we have the skills to handle. It’s been important to keep an eye open for areas that might attract external funding, but above all we’ve sought to select projects that would be fun and that would attract as many different people as possible.

So what are the results? We have currently identified the following areas of interest:

• A history of drinking in Coquetdale - looking at alcohol through the ages, including stills, breweries, pubs old and new, and smuggling.
• Abandoned places: studying deserted mediaeval settlements in Upper Coquetdale and the field systems around them. Why did people leave them, and when?
• After the Ice Age: the first people in Upper Coquetdale - investigating the Mesolithic presence in the valley. Field-walking at Low Trewhiitt turned up evidence in the form of flints. This area needs further work, and we should try to identify other likely sites.
• 20^th century military archaeology - exploring the legacy of two world wars, pillboxes, training trenches, POW camps and, above all, people’s memories.
• Clennel Street - studying not only its route down into the valley, but also the dykes, settlements and cairns associated with it.

We can build a rich activity programme based around these projects - from oral history and documentary research to field-walking, surveying and digs.

A full copy of the Research Agenda 2008 (PDF) can be downloaded here and there’s also a Feedback Form (PDF) to download and complete so you can let us know which projects you’re interested in. We’ll keep members up to date with whatever’s going on but if you have any questions please contact one of the committee members. We’d welcome your help.