It all began in May 2004. Our history society has meetings indoors in the winter and from May to July we have a monthly walk, exploring evidences of the past to be seen within our area. Out first walk of 2004 was to retrace the steps of Mary Fair, which she recorded in an article (CWAAS 1938),entitled “A Group of Remains round Eskdale Green.” The remains she had found were of diverse dates and kinds:

• A tumulus or barrow
• Parts of a trackway in parts well paved and in others sunken between large boulders
• A ruined farmhouse of 16th or 17th century date
• The site of an iron ore bloomery
• Other remains of buildings and walls of unknown date.
  

All the members who did the walk were fascinated by the remains we had found and it was decided to let the Lake District National Park archaeologist, John Hodgson, know about them. After he had visited and seen the sites himself he suggested that we should apply for a grant to have them investigated using modern techniques of surveying and recording. This we decided ( with some trepidation) to do. Oxford Archaeology North agreed to be in charge of the landscape survey, geophysical survey etc. and they also decided that it would be a sensible idea , while we were about it, to enlarge the area to include most of Muncaster Fell.

The grant we received came from the Local Heritage Initiative fund of English Heritage and we received a lot of help in the beginning from Susannah England , the N.W. representative . She was at hand while we were filling in the formidable application form for the grant and will, we are sure, be there to hold our hands throughout the project. So we have until February 2008 to rediscover and record all the sites which Mary Fair recorded in her notebooks, using photographs, drawings and early 20th century surveying techniques and which she wrote about in 1938. I hope we can add to her findings in a way of which she would approve.