Selected projects
4.19.18 Cumbria County Council development control
A new post of Archaeological Development Control Officer was created in 1997, jointly funded by Cumbria County Council and English Heritage. During 1997-98, there were approximately 7000 planning applications made to the local planning authorities in Cumbria (excluding Carlisle District Council and the National Parks). There were also 120 consultations relating to proposals falling outside the planning system (eg from the Forestry Authority relating to Woodland Grant Schemes, or from statutory undertakers). Of these proposals, 1112 were identified as having possible archaeological potential and were checked against the county Sites and Monuments Record. Formal recommendations were made for archaeological work on 28 of these. Fieldwork during the year included 8 assessments, 14 evaluations, 3 excavations, one survey, and 12 watching briefs; 3 projects were monitored, requiring 13 monitoring visits.
The most significant proposals in 1997-98 included a major land reclamation project at Parton, near Whitehaven; a golf course at Whinfell Forest near Penrith, and a large town centre development in Kendall. At Parton, the remains of a former coal mine, associated brickworks, and the site of a nineteenth-century brewery were investigated and recorded. Intervention ensured that proper records were made of those remains that had to be destroyed, and that a more sympathetic restoration proposal was implemented to include interpretation of the area.
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Kendal: general and detail of excavations at
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Elephant Yard, funded by Boots Properties PLC |
The proposed golf course at Whinfell Forest included the site of a collection of cropmarks identified from aerial photographs. The most significant of these appeared to include a Roman marching camp, and a large indeterminate 'enclosure'. In the event the 'marching camp' was excluded from the development area, but the 'enclosure' and the rest of the development area was extensively trenched. No trace of the cropmark enclosure site was encountered in the ground, but the evaluation did reveal the completely unexpected remains of a small cremation cemetery, and a different ditched enclosure. Radiocarbon dates from the cemetery and the enclosure ditch indicate a date in the Early Bronze Age.
The work at Kendall comprised the largest archaeological excavation yet carried out in the town. The siting of the development meant that the area available for investigation lay towards the periphery of the medieval core, and in addition the greater part of the areas excavate were 'backland' sites; nevertheless, the excavations demonstrated significant activity in these areas from the thirteenth century onwards. As well as the usual range of rubbish and cesspits, and structural evidence, the excavations revealed the well preserved remains of two large stone ovens of fourteenth century date, probably used for drying or malting corn. The work also produced a large assemblage of well stratified medieval pottery, much of it dating to the thirteenth fourteenth century, as well as a large collection of organic samples. The excavations have contributed an enormous amount of new evidence to our understanding of medieval Kendal.
The appointment of the Archaeological Development Control Officer has proved of enormous benefit, and has produced both better management of the threat to the archaeological resource of Cumbria, and an enhanced service, which now includes, for example, building recording. In addition other staff resources have been freed up to address more strategic issues relating to conservation and interpretation.