During the drought of 1995 local historian Ann Hearle and her husband John noticed unusual marks both in lawn of their own garden at the Old Vicarage and in the adjacent field of Knowle Farm owned by Peter Hodgson. Most of the grass had been bleached brown by the sun apart from a line of lush green grass which could be seen arcing across the field. They thought that the line might be following that of a medieval ditch. Fortunately Ann had the foresight to take photographs
How did they find out more?In the autumn of 1997 they were visted by Peter Arrowsmith, author of the book Stockport, a History who examined the photographs and took a walk around the hill top. He started to think there may have been a very early occupation of the site. Peter contacted a colleague from the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, Graham Eyre-Morgan and set in motion a train of events which would lead to the creation of the Mellor Archaeological Trust and the discovery of 10,000 years of History.