Middleton & The Ice Age

Recently a special two-part documentary series has been shown on Channel 5 called Ice Age: Apocalypse. One might wonder why this show might have any relevance to Middleton. Over the last few years, we have been researching the much wider history of Middleton and the Ice Age has managed to make repeated and often unexpected appearances.

The oldest archaeological discovery at Middleton is a Palaeolithic Acheulian ovate hand axe, which is thought to date to over 200,000 years ago! Many flint tools of varied dates from the Stone Age have also been found in numerous locations around Middleton. Therefore, the segments in this documentary about the making and development of these Stone Age tools was fascinating and a great aid to help us understand more about these finds at Middleton.

The impact of the Ice Age on the geology of Middleton also made an impact during the much more recent (20th century) ownership of Middleton by Amey Roadstone (ARC). ARC mined the area around Middleton for sand and gravel. One of their problems was that amongst the sand and gravel they often came across igneous rock boulders, which had been transported to Middleton by the glaciers during the Ice Age. These boulders were left around the site and many can still be seen as you walk around the grounds of Middleton Hall today. Furthermore, ARC workers have told us that they came across a mammoth tusk whilst they were mining. Hence, the segments in the documentary on the mammoth, in which virtual production techniques showed the animals, provided a novel basis for imagining what it had been like at Middleton in the time of the Ice Age!

Frozen Middleton Pool, 2010. Photograph taken by Betty Fox.

As the documentary explained, the Ice Age, known as the Quaternary glaciation, is still technically ongoing. This Ice Age has been characterised by alternating glacial and interglacial periods and in the interglacial periods temperatures could be quite warm. Middleton has a very long documented history, which actually shows this and its impact. In the 13th century and the time of Philip de Marmion, 5th Baron Marmion of Tamworth, grapes were being grown and documents have confirmed that wine was being made at Middleton. This was possible because that was a warm period and at that time Middleton’s climate was warmer and more like the wine-growing regions in France today. Then the Little Ice Age began, which reached its climax at the start of the 17th century. Middleton's records show that crops produced changed until, at the climax, only the hardiest of crops, such as rye, could be grown and changed again as the climate gradually warmed.

Finally, one other topic illuminated in the second part of the documentary was Doggerland. Doggerland is the name given to the land that once joined Britain to Europe and is now beneath the North Sea. It was flooded about 10,000-7,000 years ago. In the documentary it discussed how the investigation of Doggerland has been relatively recent. They also dived down to show the remains of submerged trees. In 1673, in his book “Travels Through the Low Countries, Germany, Italy and France” John Ray wrote about “subterranean woods” in which whole trees, the species of which were often clearly identifiable, were buried below ground and water and were found not only in the Low Countries of Europe but also plentifully in England. In his musings, he wrote that at some point, “before all records of antiquity” these trees must have been part of the firm land and were afterwards “undermined and overwhelmed by the sea”. He also commented that writings made mention of a wood over a mile to the east off Dunwich in Suffolk the location of which, even in Ray’s time, he noted was far out to sea. The conclusion Ray reached from his musings may not have been quite scientifically correct, but regardless it is interesting to consider that he was musing about those sunken woods as much as we are today, just a mere 350 years apart!

Further Reading: John Ray, Travels through the Low Countries, Germany, Italy & France, 1738. pp.5-8.

"Middleton", Our Warwickshire, https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/location/middleton#historic-sites

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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