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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Many thanks to Kirsty Lloyd for her talk last night Theory, Inference & Interpretation in Archaeology. Our next lecture is on 21 Oct when Ian Miller, County Archaeologist for Gtr Manchester will update us on archaeology highlights from the last year. More info to follow….

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Details of the first lecture of our Autumn/Winter season together with dates for all our other talks.

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Our 1st lecture of our Autumn/Winter season is at 7.30pm next Weds 23rd Sept at the Civic Centre, Uppermill. Kirsty Lloyd will talk on “Ask it the question: Theory, Inference & Interpretation in Archaeology”. See ‘Events’ on www.castleshawarchaeology.co.uk for more info

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

So lucky with the weather today as we continue to uncover evidence of burning, postholes and cooking hearths. A nice piece of Roman Samian ware made a couple of our diggers very happy. We return this Saturday and Sunday for our final days of excavating #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Although we were rained off yesterday the damp conditions are helping to show up some nice features such as charcoal spreads, beam slots & possible drains. Our heroic digging team even arrived an hour earlier so we could make the best of the weather We return tomorrow & Tuesday #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

We found this lovely, large piece of Roman glass today. We also continued to uncover more Roman features one of which could have been a latrine ditch….the soil that came of it was certainly very smelly! 🥴 #Castleshaw #Roman

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

After all the rain this week it wasn’t surprising that we had some pretty deep puddles in our trenches to bale out. Before we did though we let Duckus Quackus have a swim 😀. Lots of new trenches opened today and Roman features beginning to show up. We return on Sunday 23rd #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

A few shots of linear features and beam slots found recently - these would have supported Roman timber buildings within the fort annexe & were very deep in places. We also found another bread oven though this was much damaged by later activities. We return tomorrow, 23rd & 24th #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Some fantastic drone photos taken yesterday of our excavation site and the Castleshaw valley. We return for further digging on Friday 21st, Sunday 23rd & Monday 24th August.

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

A light shower this morning really helped with showing up the colours on site. Lots of drone photography today which provides a perfect birds eye view & can be so useful when analysing archaeological features. Digging again tomorrow then 3 days off until we return on Friday 21st #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Some great weather conditions so the soil colour changes are showing up well. We’re not too sure what this feature is yet - possibly a ditch and were hoping to uncover more of it tomorrow🤞 #Castleshaw #Roman

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Thankfully it was cooler on site today and our diggers continued to uncover Roman features such as stake holes, postholes and beam slots that would have supported a wooden building. We return tomorrow and are digging until Monday #Castleshaw #Roman

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

We return to our excavations in the Roman fort annexe tomorrow & are there until Monday - everything crossed for some cooler weather🤞 Do call in for a guided tour if you’re passing. You may also like to visit Saddleworth museum in Uppermill to see some of our finds including this Roman lead weight

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Definite Roman features such as stake holes and rectangular post holes are beginning to appear on day 3 of our excavations in the Roman fort annexe. Huge thanks to our amazing digging team who have worked incredibly hard over the past 3 days 👏👏. We return this Friday #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Our 2nd day and Roman features are beginning to emerge - we think this area is a possible beam slot. We’ve also had a lot of visitors on site over the weekend and is been great to show them around. Bit cloudier today which has been good for showing up the features. We return tomorrow #Castleshaw

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Day 1 and it’s been a warm one 🥵. Our fabulous excavation team worked really hard as usual de-turfing & digging down to the Roman levels. Let’s see what turns up tomorrow… #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Weather’s looking good so we’re hoping for a dry weekend of digging at Castleshaw 🤞 This will be our 5th year excavating the annexe and if you’d like to see some of our finds head to the fantastic Saddleworth Museum in Uppermill #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Two for the price of one… The early Roman fort and later fortlet in the beautiful Castleshaw valley. The road shows up really well as it climbs up Standedge towards the next fort at Slack #RomanFortThursday Excavations continue at the fort this weekend.

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Trowels found, sweets bought for diggers & we’re just about prepared for anything the British summer weather can throw at us ☀️⛈️⚡️❄️ It can only mean one thing - we’re excavating again at the Castleshaw Roman fort annexe from 8 Aug. All other dates on www.castleshawarchaeology.co.uk

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Only 4 days until we start digging again at the Roman fort annexe at Castleshaw! Last year local artist Hugh Winterbottom visited us & sketched some of our diggers hard at work. All dig dates are on www.castleshawarchaeology.co.uk and we welcome visitors between 10-3 on those days #Castleshaw

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

We’ve had a busy week - strimming in the fortlet to reveal the outline of Roman buildings then test pitting in a (very understanding) neighbour’s garden & an adjacent field that uncovered evidence of inner & outer ditches of the eastern annexe defences #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

More work this week by our fabulous archive group at Saddleworth Museum to complete accession cards for all our recent finds from the Roman annexe. Once completed these finds will be deposited in the museum archives. This is a great museum located in Uppermill www.saddleworthmuseum.co.uk

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Here’s our contribution to ##FingerpostFriday This little beauty can be found on Waterworks Road by the public footpath gate leading up the hill to the forts #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

What a find - love the game board! 🤩We came across this little beauty at Castleshaw a few years ago. It’s not hard to imagine the Roman soldiers spending their spare time playing board games & gambling - not much else to do up there…. #Castleshaw #FindsFriday #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Really good to see the Jewry Wall Museum in Leicester back open - helpful, friendly staff & well worth a visit @jewrywallroman.bsky.social #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Some of our archive team have been at Saddleworth Museum recently to update the display of artifacts found at Castleshaw over the years including our unique Roman lead weight. We still have to add captions but the display is available to view now. Www.saddleworthmuseum.co.uk #Castleshaw #Romans

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Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts @offorts.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Our first post on Bluesky & it’s great to be here. Some exploratory work close to the forts a few weeks ago & we found evidence of the annexe’s eastern rampart. We return at the end of June to investigate further ahead of our main excavations which start in August #Castleshaw #Romans

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