After the success of the Roman Millom event, in November 2021, we relaunched Millom and District Local History Society and have held several successful events during 2022, details of which can be found on our website: www.millomhistory.org.uk
We added a new object: “To acquire funding to commission relevant geophysical surveys and archaeological digs within Millom and its surrounding areas" and set up the Geophys Project: https://www.millomhistory.org.uk/projects/geo.html with the aim of acquiring funding to conduct geophysical surveys to find concrete evidence from the different historical periods of the area, from Prehistory through Roman and Medieval up to Modern Times.
Military historian, author and film-maker, Peter Barton is making a series of films about the Lake District which includes Millom. Peter is very interested in the history of Millom and has been working with local historian Duane Farren. He commissioned a geophysical survey of the field below Millom Castle with a cropmark: it has been suggested this is Iron Age/Roman. Archaeologist Peter Masters of Cranfield University conducted the survey and suggests several significant archaeological anomalies including a road (Roman?), a kiln and possibly a pit within the cropmark.
This is all very exciting but further techniques now need to be pursued to get a clearer idea of what is there. We, therefore, need to raise £3,000 to be able to commission further surveys (electromagnetic induction and ground penetrating radar) in the fields surrounding Millom Castle and Holy Trinity Church.