While doing some routine maintenance on ponds over the last couple of weeks we came across some of the ancestors.
Furse Hill Shell Fish
The bottom shell in the picture is, I believe, just an ordinary shell of a shell-fish. I am advised on good authority that they are about 140 million years old. The material remains unchanged from a shell of today.
The curved pieces are from the same strata and therefore the same age. I have no idea what they are but they were once a form of life. The material now is more like solid rock. I assume that whatever they were they are now petrified.
Furze Hill Extractions
The attached picture shows a few flints we have found at Furze Hill. It is possible for one’s imagination to run away with itself and identify naturally shattered flints as being hand worked. We have been guided by people what know stuff!
The left hand exhibit is a bit axe shaped, albeit small.
The centre piece is a bit spear or arrow point shaped.
The right hand piece looks like nothing in particular, but when you pick it up in your right hand the thumb, first finger and second finger sit very comfortably in three recesses and it becomes a perfect scraping tool. There is also evidence of the cutting edges being worked in order to sharpen.
…….maybe!
Furse Hill Extraction Areas
There are four areas of Furze Hill where large excavations have taken place. They could not have been formed naturally. Human intervention would have been necessary. The problem with these areas is that there was no obvious material being quarried. It may have been flints, it may have been sandstone, some of which has significant strands of iron.
‘Big John’s’ Ashes
The location in the picture has a little anecdote to go with it:-
Three old boys, Last of the Summer Wine characters, used to while away many happy hours at Furze Hill indulging their hobby of Ferreting. After a few years they stopped coming. A few years later one of the three knocked on the door to make a special request. The leader of the trio, Big John, had died and had left a request with his family that his ashes should be scattered at a hollow at Furze Hill (in the picture) which he loved. After checking that this was “in order” we gave consent and Big John’s ashes were duly scattered. The family visited annually for a while but no longer do. The funny part is that Big John probably dined on many a rabbit. Now, with his ashes fertilising the poor soil and helping the grass to grow…
…the rabbits are dining on Big John!!
Robin is the custodian of these artefacts (but not the ashes).
Robin Dawson Aug 2022