Lancaster Imprints – serie

The replacement of the Number 9 Feeder Gas Transmission Pipeline has provided an important opportunity to investigate early landscapes and settlement either side of the Humber Estuary. A combination of techniques has been employed over an eight-year period by Oxford Archaeology in order to explore the geoarchaeology and archaeology within two landscape areas, at Paull, East Yorkshire, and Goxhill, North Lincolnshire.Geoarchaeological investigations at both Paull and Goxhill included borehole coring, lithological, pollen, and diatom analyses, deposit modelling, and radiocarbon dating, the results of which provide details of the evolving early prehistoric coastal landscape that was present in the Mesolithic and earlier Neolithic periods. All of the archaeological remains investigated by the project were confined to Goxhill, and evaluation trenching, open-area excavation, and archaeological monitoring, together with detailed post-excavation analysis, have greatly enhanced understanding of prehistoric and historic settlement in this area. Within this landscape, limited evidence for Bronze Age and post-medieval activity was recovered, with the vast majority of the excavated remains dating to the Iron Age, Roman, and medieval periods, relating to progressive phases of open and enclosed settlement.This synthetic volume arises from a multi-disciplinary approach to geoarchaeology and archaeology, with an emphasis on interpreting the evidence in terms of landscape development. It includes the work of a range authors drawn from Oxford Archaeology and several external specialists.

During 2008 and 2009, Oxford Archaeology completed an extensive campaign of archaeological excavation at Ronaldsway Airport, Isle of Man, as part of a programme of runway and taxiway extension, and other airport improvements, undertaken by the Isle of Man Airport Division (part of the Isle of Man Government Department of Transport). This investigation uncovered a range of highly significant archaeological remains that complement other important discoveries made at the airport in the mid-twentieth century, which have figured prominently in discussions of the archaeology of the island.This volume presents details of these recent discoveries, which included an extremely rare Mesolithic dwelling dating to the end of the ninth millennium cal BC, representing the island’s earliest known house, along with Mesolithic pits and artefact scatters. Other important discoveries included Neolithic and earlier Bronze Age timber structures, and well-preserved elements of a later Bronze Age ‘village’, which contained domestic roundhouses, ancillary buildings, and workshops engaged in the casting of bronze and lead objects. Evidence relating to an unenclosed Iron Age settlement was also identified, as well as two important Iron Age burials, one of which contained an Iron Age ‘warrior’ who had been graphically killed during an act of interpersonal violence. Other recorded remains, dated to the later medieval and postmedieval periods and furnish evidence for the form of the agricultural landscape that existed prior to the construction of the modern airport.This volume is the result of a multi-disciplinary approach to the archaeology, involving detailed analyses of buried remains, artefacts, and environmental remains, with the work of a range of authors from Oxford Archaeology, as well as several external specialists. The results greatly enhance an understanding of the archaeology of the Isle of Man, and, more generally, provide important information on prehistoric settlement, contacts, and connections in the Irish Sea region, and along Britain’s western seaboard.

Bewsey Old Hall has a long and archaeologically well-documented existence. It is a Scheduled Monument , but was effectively derelict in the late 1970s, when plans for sympathetic restoration and redevelopment of this important moated site gave the opportunity for the standing buildings (some dating back to the seventeenth century) to be recorded. The extensive archaeological excavations examined a large part of the moated platform, and were intended to place the house within its physical and chronological context. In addition, this was supplemented by detailed documentary research, which offered an unusual chance to place the site within its regional socio-political context. Excavations took place in 1977-81 and again in 1983-5. Analysis of the large body of data recovered, begun in 1985 but laid aside in 1987, was resumed in 1993 and finally completed in 1996, at which point a draft report was submitted to English Heritage. A revised version of that draft forms the basis of this publication.Bewsey’s origins lay in the thirteenth century, perhaps originating as a hunting lodge in the royal forest of Burtonwood. It became the principal seat of the Butlers, Barons of Warrington, after their original hall, Mote Hill in Warrington, was destroyed by fire in the late thirteenth century. The earliest coherent archaeological evidence from the site suggests that a large timber-built aisled hall and a range of smaller service buildings were erected on the site at about that time, presumably to house the baron and his household. The Butlers were to stay at Bewsey until the sixteenth century, rebuilding their hall on stone foundations in the fourteenth century, after a substantial fire, and modifying it and maintaining it as circumstances required. By the mid-sixteenth century, some of the principal buildings had fallen into disrepair, but a new northern range was built shortly before 1586, when Bewsey changed hands, passing briefly to the Earl of Leicester. When Robert Dudley died in 1588, the house, although probably intended for his illegitimate son, Robert, passed first to his brother Ambrose, earl of Warwick, who died shortly afterwards. For a decade, the ownership of the property was disputed, but in 1597, Robert Dudley sold the estate to the Ireland family, and it remained with them and their successors, the Athertons, until the mid-twentieth century.Bewsey Old Hall has a long and archaeologically well-documented existence. It is a Scheduled Monument , but was effectively derelict in the late 1970s, when plans for sympathetic restoration and redevelopment of this important moated site gave the opportunity for the standing buildings (some dating back to the seventeenth century) to be recorded. The extensive archaeological excavations examined a large part of the moated platform, and were intended to place the house within its physical and chronological context. In addition, this was supplemented by detailed documentary research, which offered an unusual chance to place the site within its regional socio-political context. Excavations took place in 1977-81 and again in 1983-5. Analysis of the large body of data recovered, begun in 1985 but laid aside in 1987, was resumed in 1993 and finally completed in 1996, at which point a draft report was submitted to English Heritage. A revised version of that draft forms the basis of this publication. Bewsey’s origins lay in the thirteenth century, perhaps originating as a hunting lodge in the royal forest of Burtonwood. It became the principal seat of the Butlers, Barons of Warrington, after their original hall, Mote Hill in Warrington, was destroyed by fire in the late thirteenth century. The earliest coherent archaeological evidence from the site suggests that a large timber-built aisled hall and a range of smaller service buildings were erected on the site at about that time, presumably to house the baron and his household. The Butlers were to stay at Bewsey until the sixteenth century, rebuilding their hall on stone foundations in the fourteenth century, after a substantial fire, and modifying it and maintaining it as circumstances required. By the mid-sixteenth century, some of the principal buildings had fallen into disrepair, but a new northern range was built shortly before 1586, when Bewsey changed hands, passing briefly to the Earl of Leicester. When Robert Dudley died in 1588, the house, although probably intended for his illegitimate son, Robert, passed first to his brother Ambrose, earl of Warwick, who died shortly afterwards. For a decade, the ownership of the property was disputed, but in 1597, Robert Dudley sold the estate to the Ireland family, and it remained with them and their successors, the Athertons, until the mid-twentieth century. The origins of the fine brick hall still standing on the site probably lay in the early seventeenth century, representing the fashionable aspirations of the new owners, seeking to add comfortable modern accommodation to the extant medieval hall, thereby initiating the piecemeal demolition of the medieval southern range. The appearance of the new house was later much enhanced, by the excavation of a formal terraced garden, decorated by large and impressive terracotta urns and other garden furniture. It did not, however, last long, and the garden had been backfilled and levelled by 1724. The Atherton family often had cause to lease Bewsey to tenants, and on occasion it was left empty for long periods. Indeed, it was not until c 1765 that Elizabeth Atherton and her husband Robert Gwillym moved back to Bewsey, which had almost certainly been empty since 1754. As a fire is thought to have destroyed part of the main range in the 1740s or early 1750s, it is hardly surprising that they initiated a substantial programme of rebuilding, including the demolition of the medieval hall, and the addition of rooms in the Georgian style. A brick-built farmhouse may have been added to the western side of the seventeenth-century hall during this period, but it could equally have been built much later, possibly around 1819. By 1833, the Georgian buildings had been demolished, leaving the hall more or less in the form in which it survives today. In 1863, a ‘New’ Hall was built some 400 m away, and Bewsey Old Hall was left in the hands of a succession of tenants, until, in a state of considerable disrepair, it was acquired by Warrington Development Corporation in 1974. The large amount of medieval and earlier post-medieval material from the site, particularly the pottery, is of particular significance to local and regional studies. It remains one of the largest collections in the North West outside of urban centres such as Chester and Carlisle.

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.

In August and September 2013, and again in April and May 2014, Oxford Archaeology, on behalf of the former Hadrian's Wall Trust (HWT), undertook a research and community-training excavation within the extramural settlement associated with the Roman fort at Maryport, Cumbria. The project sought to engage, and train, a wide cross-section of the community in a broad range of fieldwork and post-excavation techniques, and to address a series of academic research questions pertaining to the Maryport site, and to Roman extramural settlements in general. Based on the evidence of an extensive programme of geophysical survey undertaken on the site in 2000-4, a block of four putative Roman building plots was selected for investigation, north-west of the main axial road leading north-east from the fort (which appears to have formed the principal focus of settlement on this side of the fort). Following an initial phase of prospection at the beginning of the 2013 season, which included a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey and the excavation of four test-pits, what was thought to be a single building plot was selected for more detailed investigation. Open-area excavation within this putative plot quickly established that in fact it comprised a complete building plot, considerably narrower than was suggested by the geophysical survey data, and substantive parts of two others, to the north-east and south-west, with a probable external area, including what may have been a minor road, between the central and south-western plots. The primary aim of the project was to enhance understanding of this part of the settlement through the excavation of as much as possible of a single building plot (including the 'backplot' area to the rear of the street frontage); consequently, the fully exposed central plot was chosen for more extensive excavation. The south-western and north-eastern plots were not excavated, other than to establish the presence of stone/stone-footed buildings within them. The 2014 season was focused almost exclusively on the central plot, with the area investigated within the backplot being substantially enlarged. However, a small area immediately to the south was also excavated, to investigate stratigraphic links between the structures in the central plot and what appeared to be an external area adjacent to them. The earliest evidence for a human presence at the site comprised a few prehistoric stone artefacts, intensive occupation clearly beginning in the Roman period. The main road leading north-east from the fort was identified, with the three building plots extending westwards from it. Following its initial construction, the road was resurfaced only once, in the third century AD. The stratigraphically earliest feature recorded was a small, north-east/south-west-aligned ditch, approximately 10 m north-west of, and aligned broadly parallel to, the road, possibly part of a field system of late pre-Roman or (perhaps more likely) early Roman date. The ceramic evidence from the site provides a strong indication that the investigated area as a whole saw little activity before the late Hadrianic period (c AD 130+), when a rectilinear timber building, probably a strip building, was constructed on the frontage of the targeted building plot. Since this structure clearly referenced the position and alignment of the axial road, this proves that this road was in existence by the late Hadrianic period and was not, like the Military Way associated with Hadrian's Wall, a later feature. The limited dating evidence associated with the building suggests that it may have remained in use to around the middle of the second century, probably sometime within the period 140-60, but it appears to have been immediately replaced with another, very similar, timber structure. This indicates that no break in occupation occurred at the time Hadrian's Wall was abandoned in favour of the Antonine Wall across the Forth-Clyde isthmus.

Explores significant medieval remains in Preston identified as the Franciscan friary of St Clare.