Christine Howard-Davis – författare

During the 1990s Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (now part of Oxford Archaeology) carried out a large-scale programme of archaeological investigation on behalf of UK Waste Management Limited, at Old Abbey Farm, Risley, Warrington Borough in the present day county of Cheshire. The farm was the site of a moated platform, thought to be medieval in origin; a Listed seventeenth century brick farmhouse stood on the platform, and a Listed brick barn was sited a short distance to the south-west, beyond the line of the moat. Archaeological investigation of the site began in 1990, following an application to Cheshire County Council to extend the adjacent landfill facility. The fabric of the farmhouse and barn was evaluated, several trial trenches were cut by machine, and the potential of relevant documentary sources was assessed. Subsequently, planning permission for the landfill extension was granted and Listed Building Consent gained for the demolition of the structures, and a programme of archaeological recording was put in place to allow the 'preservation by record' of the site.The mitigation investigation consisted of two main components, carried out in 1994-5: the controlled demolition and recording of the farmhouse and barn, and the excavation of large open areas both on and off the moated platform. However, multi-disciplinary analysis of the results of the building survey and excavation, and a programme of dendrochronological sampling, has allowed an account of the chronology and development of the site to be constructed. Specialist study of re-used timbers dated by dendrochronology has suggested that a late thirteenth or possibly very early fourteenth century open hall formerly stood on the site of Old Abbey Farm. The hall is thought to have been fully aisled, with a steeply-pitched hipped roof, but all the timbers from this phase were found re-used in secondary positions, so that many aspects of the building's form and appearance remain uncertain. In the late medieval period it is probable that the aisles were removed, with new timber¬framing built below the arcade-plates. A clay floor found by excavation either relates to the modified hall, or to an earlier structure. The medieval hall stood on a moated platform; the moat and platform could not be independently dated, but appear to be at least as old as the re-used timbers. It is not clear how the moat was crossed earlier in the medieval period, but waterlogged timbers were recovered demonstrating that a substantial timber bridge was constructed in the mid fifteenth century. Documentary sources indicate that the site lay at the centre of the manorial estate of Pesfurlong, created in the mid thirteenth century.A crosswing was added to the medieval hall in the mid sixteenth century; elements of the timber frame were found within the farmhouse, and represent the earliest in situ remains found within the standing structure. The footings of a sandstone bridge may also date to this period. Subsequently, the house was subject to piecemeal underpinning and rebuilding in brick, beginning in the early to mid seventeenth century, and was extended in the mid eighteenth century. The brick Lancashire-type barn was also built at this time.The project provided a rare opportunity to excavate below a standing structure that had been archaeologically recorded. In order to examine the effectiveness and validity of the twin techniques of building survey and excavation, and the inter-relationship between standing structure and buried evidence, a unique research experiment was designed, whereby the two elements of the project were carried out by separate teams of archaeologists, who did not communicate until the completion of the fieldwork stages. The results of the experiment formed the basis of a television documentary compiled for the BBC's 'Countryfile' programme.

The Priory of St Mary was founded at Norton, Cheshire, in 1134, when the Augustinian canons of the Priory of St Bertelin, founded in Runcorn in 1115, were relocated to the site ‘at the request of Roger, bishop of Chester’. The priory was originally founded by William fitz Nigel, second baron of Halton, and moved to Norton by his successor, William fitz William. Its earliest buildings were of timber, probably erected to house both the canons and the vast army of workmen needed to build such a fine Romanesque monastery. By the end of the twelfth century, the stone buildings of the monastery were not only complete, but were being expanded to accommodate more members of the order. Despite the setback of a major fire in 1236, and the more general financial and social problems of the fourteenth century, Norton had attained the status of abbey by its end, and its abbot was a senior and much respected member of the Augustinian Order.

This volume presents the findings of the largest campaign of archaeological investigation along Liverpool's historic waterfront, by Oxford Archaeology North and the National Museums Liverpool Field Archaeology Unit. This work centred on the areas of Mann Island, Pier Head, and the Central Docks, all places that either fall within, or are directly adjacent to, the Liverpool-Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage Site, and it formed a prelude to the construction of a commercial development and the Museum of Liverpool, and also the extension of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The investigations uncovered numerous remains relating to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dock building and land reclamation, as well as concomitant evidence for the use and occupation of the waterfront, and the wider town, during these periods. The archaeological evidence has been complemented by detailed historical research, which together provide significant insights into the dynamic and evolving system of dock and quayside development, occurring between the early eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. This development was integral to Liverpool's wider history, and the archaeological remains reflect the port's nascent post-medieval growth, commercial zenith during the nineteenth century, and eventual twentieth-century decline, prior to the extensive schemes of urban regeneration which now characterise the present-day waterfront. Moreover, this extensive campaign of investigation indicates how archaeology along the waterfront represents an important technique for uncovering the nuances of an area that was integral to the rise and success of Liverpool, and which also continues to exert a significant sway on Liverpool's cultural and economic identity.

The Bay Gateway, a highway developed by Lancashire County Council and substantially funded by the Department for Transport, was constructed by Costain between 2014 and 2016 to provide a direct connection between the Port of Heysham, on the Lancashire coast, and Junction 34 of the M6 motorway, c 11 km to the north-east. Whilst groundworks at either end of the scheme involved substantial alterations to existing infrastructure within already heavily developed urban and suburban settings, the majority of the newly constructed elements of the route traversed a largely pastoral landscape, parallel with the River Lune. The undulating countryside is predominantly agricultural in nature, with a patchwork of fields and isolated farmsteads. As well as providing the backdrop for the Bay Gateway, the rolling landscape appears to have been attractive to human settlers within this part of the Lune Valley for some 9000 years, from the Late Mesolithic period, through to the Middle Ages and beyond.Excavations by Oxford Archaeology along the route in 2014 marked the culmination of almost ten years of archaeological investigation, with each study contributing to an understanding of an area that had previously seen little comprehensive research. Preliminary works had comprised desk-based assessment and walkover surveys, devised to define the known archaeological resource of the route, while geophysical survey was undertaken to identify the presence of possible, hitherto unidentified, archaeological remains. The first intrusive survey comprised the evaluation excavation of a series of trial trenches by Rubicon Heritage in early 2013. This tested the results of previous studies and established the presence and potential significance of buried remains. When combined with development proposals, the evaluation permitted the compilation of a mitigation strategy for detailed archaeological investigation in advance of construction works. In its final form, the mitigation was focused on seven discrete areas, wherein remains relating to prehistoric, medieval, and post-medieval activity were identified.