Monument record MDR15612 - Creswell Crags lake and mill pond, Creswell Crags, Holbeck, Nottinghamshire

The extraction of two bore holes and a campaign of augering from the lake were carried out between 1979 and 1981. Bore hole 1 was removed from outside of Church Hole Cave (SMR 34806) and was made up of soft sediments (extending to 2m in depth). It produced no archaeological remains, however it was overlayed by alternating silty, humic bands where many fragments of coal and mollusca were embedded. Bore hole 2 was taken from outside the marshy area of Robin Hood's Cave (SMR 34304) and was a 2m core, where at the bottom there were no archaeological remains, but towards the 1m mark, there was an increase in organic carbon content and mollusc populations. Using the mollusca evidence, it seems that initally the lake was a fast flowing stream where the concequential silting up of the stream caused the formation of the marsh near bore hole 2, which had since encroached on the boundaries of the artficial lake which was created from the dam construction. The speices of mollusc 'Potomopyrgus jenkinsi' occurs in inland water of Britian only since the end of the 19th century, therefore as it was only found in sediments above 1.3m, it is possible that the material above this depth was depositied in the 20th century. (1) Towards the far western bridge on the lake, three well preserved oak timbers were uncovered. Detailed analysis of these shows them to be part of a large, timber framed building which once stook near Mill Bridge, though none of the timbers show signs of tool marks associated with their felling and conversion to timber. It is possible that these may represent the mill itself. (2)