"The Last Cuckoo Project is a community history and
archaeological project with a focus on the Chesterfield Canal at Bellhouse
Lane, Staveley. The canal basin, now a small, insignificant patch of overgrown
wasteland was once a thriving industrial complex with wharves, tramways, gas
works and a lost, unique Chesterfield Canal narrowboat (cuckoo).
The map record and tales of a buried cuckoo mark Bellhouse
Lane basin as an important and interesting place worthy of archaeological
investigation in order to document, record and understand fully the function of
this once thriving industrial complex.
Spring 2017 The Canal Trust proposes to undertake a detailed
analytical study of the history of the area, with the intention of involving
the whole community. Young, old, able bodied, disadvantaged and disability.
Collating maps, Chesterfield Canal Company data, historic photographs and
collecting and compiling oral histories.
August 2017 (2 weeks) The excavation and recording of the
basin area and the locating of the cuckoo would make for an exciting community
project. A project that will involve the Chesterfield Canal Trust and will
extend invitation to local history groups, schools, scouts, disability groups,
canal trust members, waterways organisations and the public in general.
Participants would be supervised, educated and trained by a small team of
professional archaeologists.
The project would serve a number of project goals:
• To provide an interesting, engaging experience for all
members of the local community.
• Provide an educational experience for the community’s
young people, by the inclusion of scout groups and school age children.
• Provide training opportunities for all members of the
community.
• Provide experience for students of history and archaeology
and a very specific opportunity for students of maritime archaeology.
• Provide opportunity for a detailed study of (possibly) the
last original Cuckoo, its construction and traces of cargo carried.
• The excavation would be another chapter in the basin’s
story and the story of the excavation could be included on future
interpretation boards. Publicising the event within local and national media
would generate interest and attract new members to the Chesterfield Canal
Trust. It would also raise public awareness of the canal and its environs,
helping to increase visitor numbers.
• Interesting artefacts would be conserved for display and
educational purposes.
Why now? With the trust's rebuilding work at Staveley Town
Basin nearing completion and HS2’s pending announcement of its chosen route and
intentions not to obstruct the restoration means that the canal trust will have
the green light to continue restoration east along the canal. This next phase
of restoration will not reinstate the old Bellhouse Lane Basin.
“Marked changes in ground level caused by mining subsidence
under the Doe Lea Valley (and recent house building immediately adjacent to the
site) preclude effective reuse of the basin site and canal arm as originally
configured. The alternative proposed here diverts the canal track slightly
north of its original line” Next Navigation West: Restoration of the
Chesterfield Canal from Staveley to Killamarsh.
Sadly, the basin will be lost under a car park.
We need £10,000 to fund our project. Our main costs will be:
• The cost of the archaeological lead (a two-week excavation
would require approximately 28 days of the archaeologist's time including
preparation works, the excavation itself, post-excavation work and report
writing).
• Machine digger and driver
• Insurance
• Tools and PPE
• Conservation costs
Please vote for our project and help us secure the funds we
need to build an amazing, educational and exciting community event in
Staveley!"
You can vote by following this link:
https://www.avivacom.../view/16-2681#5
(Text of post and picture taken from Chesterfield Canal
Trust Website)
So can you help this worthy project gain the funding they so desperately need. All it will take is a few minutes of your time to cast your votes.
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