<< County Introductions >> County Guides No.18 – Greater Manchester
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EnglandCountry: England County: Greater ManchesterInternal Links:
Some of the earliest finds, in the form of a number of microlithic flints dating to the Mesolithic period (10,000 – 4500BC), have been discovered in Heywood, and in the Cheesden Valley and Knowl Moor areas between Bury and Rochdale. All of these were found near to water and more than likely represent the remains of temporary hunting camps.
There are currently no known surviving Neolithic monuments in the Greater Manchester area, but the discovery of a number of flints, including daggers, arrowheads, stone axes and hammers, indicates that people were almost certainly living in the region at that period. In the last couple of centuries flint artefacts have been found close to Manchester Cathedral, on Cheetham Hill just to the north of the city centre, in Gorton to the south-east, Withington, Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Fallowfield to the south and at Baguley Hall in Timperley.
Evidence for Bronze Age activity comes from a number of round barrows and cairns, although very few remain apart from in the upland areas, such as those at Brown Low and Ludworth Intakes near Mellor in the east of the county. Another barrow at Windhill in Ashworth, was excavated by the Bury Archaeological Group between 1968 and 1972 revealing a flint knife, a jet button and stone hammer. Undoubtedly many others were destroyed during building work as the city developed. The History of Lancashire, Vol. 1 (1868) records the demise of one such barrow at Haulgh Hall in Bolton:
‘Haulgh Hall is a plain erection, the property of the earl, . . .In 1821 a barrow was opened here within a hundred yards of the canal, and was found to contain two kist-vaens, 3 in which were an urn of red earth, a number of mouldered and mouldering bones, with a bronze spear-head and armour, which were very appropriately presented to Lady Bradford. Vestiges of a barrow also exist in Breightmet’.
There is also one stone circle in the moors above Bolton, just within the county boundary - Cheetham Close. In fact the outlying stone, known locally as The Mire Stone, has been used as the boundary marker. In recent years a stone row, known as the Seven Stones has come to light in Smithills Park and there may possibly be others in the area.
During aerial surveying in recent years a number of defended enclosure sites dating to the Iron Age have been identified in the Upper Mersey Basin, one of which - Great Woolden Hall – was excavated by Michael Nevell in the 1980s. One of the most spectacular Iron Age discoveries in the region, however, comes from Mellor near Stockport, where archaeologists from Manchester University have been uncovering the remains of a large hillfort in the area of the church and vicarages. Other possible forts and enclosures in the area include Werneth Low, Great Woolden Hall Farm, Castlesteads near Bury, Giant's Seat in Bolton and Castle Hill in Heywood.
Greater Manchester even boasts its own bog body – Worsley Man - (actually just a head) discovered in Astley Moss, close to Chat Moss near Worsley, in 1958. Only the skull was ever found and this was re-examined in 1987. It proved to be that of an adult male, between 20 and 30 years of age who had died in the early Romano-British period. Like Lindow Man, found just 20 kilometres away in Lindow Moss near Wilmslow in Cheshire, he also had a fracture to the back of his head and a cord of sinew fastened around his neck, suggesting his death was not accidental.
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