Welcome to the Duddon Valley Local History Group Website
Winners of the Marsh Award for Community Archaeology presented at the AGM of the Council for British Archaeology in London in November 2019
DVLHG was formed in the early 1990s and runs a programme of activities and talks for its members. Our five year long study of the whole valley has restarted extending the survey to cover areas not walked in earlier phases. Our findings led to our current major project with Oxford Archaeology North excavating three medieval longhouse sites near Seathwaite Tarn.
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Duddon Valley Local History Group Home Page
Latest News
New Survey project for the Duddon Valley
There will be surveys next week starting to look into a joint LDNP/DVLHG project to survey shard fencing in our area. It is sometimes referred to as vertical stone fencing and a survey has already taken place in the Hawkshead area.
Like the washfold project, we will be looking to set up groups of volunteers from both our members and Lake District Archaeology Volunteers to carry out the survey.
As a starting point, please get in touch with locations that you know.
More information now on the projects page of the website
The programme for the coming year will feature many of the walks we had to cancel, with something to suit everyone. If you intend to go, please contact the Leader at least the day before stating where you will meet. In the event of very bad weather confirm with leader on the day to see if the walk is going ahead.
Sunday 15th December
Hawkshead Village
Dave Hughes 01229 716659 hughesd@btinternet.com
Car share essential from Broughton Square as limited parking at the start of the walk.
See Walks Page for details of the Walks programme –
Talks Programme –
Meeting the Wednesday 27th November,
7.30pm Victory Hall
We have the pleasure to welcome back Rob David for a new lecture: Muncaster Castle’s Wartime Secret: Protecting the Tate Gallery collection during the Second World War
Between 1939 and 1945 a significant proportion of Britain’s national collection of modern art from the Tate Gallery in London was brought to Muncaster Castle to save it from destruction from bombing. This illustrated lecture explains why and how this happened, who was responsible, what happened to the pictures while they were stored at Muncaster Castle and reveals some of the pictures which were kept there.
Stan Aspinall’s sell-out book featuring Photographs of Broughton is now available to view on the Publications Page.
The story of Angerton Moss and its uses is predominantly by William D Shannon PHD, FSA from whom permission to reproduce his work is recorded and acknowledged. Lex has added his own research and provided many of the photos and graphic interpretation.The actual book is A5 size. It is a quality publication, beautifully illustrated and runs to 66 pages. It is a splendid read.
Copies are £5 each when purchased directly from the History Group or £6.50 if posted.
Recent Projects
Wordsworth’s Duddon Sonnets
It was the publication of the thirty three sonnets in 1820 that made a star out of the provincial poet living in the lake District. He followed the river from source to the sea, making the journey an allegory for the life of a man. Wordsworth later added a thirty-fourth sonnet in which, as Jonathan Bate says, ‘the poet deconstructs, then reconstructs, the analogy between human life and the life of the river.
The celebration was delayed by a year due to Covid19. we didn’t intend to do anything for inside the museum. Our original plan was a self guided walk from Wrynose to Askam, using signposts at parking places taken people down to the river. This wasn’t going to be possible, so we used a map, photographs and selections from the sonnets to provide a visual representation of the river.
Gail Batten, Dave Hughes and Stephe Cove
Furness Railway 175th Anniversary
Following contact with Stephen at the level crossing and Richard at the signal box, we got involved in the celebrations for the 175th Anniversary of the Furness Railway with a plan for a display at Foxfield Station. It seemed a very disjointed project and it was hard to find out who was organising it, so Dave and I thought we go ahead anyway. Photos from our archives, from photographers on the web and valuable help from Geoff Holme put together a board over a metre square in the waiting room at the station. It gets it official opening on 24th of August with a representative from Northern Rail doing the honours.
A second board for Broughton and the line to Coniston is with Furness Plastic at the moment. CGP have generously agreed to make a plinth and install the board on the old line leading our of the village.