The Trust was formed in 2000 following the discovery in 1998 of an Iron Age ditch in the garden of The Old Vicarage next to Mellor Church.  Excavations continued to 2009 and have been described as the largest excavation for a generation of a hillfort in North West England "with results as important as those at Beeston Castle". There have been finds from Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Romano-British and Medieval times. In 2007, the Trust extended its activities to cover the whole history of the whole Parish of Mellor. Digs, which are continuing annually, at the Bronze Age burial site of Shaw Cairn on Mellor Moor included finding of nearly 100 beads of an amber necklace in 2008/9. Current work is focused on Mellor Mill, the largest and most impressive cotton mill in the world when it was built in 1790-92. It was burnt out in 1892. The area became woodland, which is now being converted into a small country park showing the remains of the mill and other buildings.

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