| Abstract: |
Following the submission of a planning application for the redevelopment of the Former Union Inn, Union Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, into residential units, and including the construction of new dwellings on the former beer garden, a condition was placed requiring an archaeological watching brief on the associated groundworks. Greenlane Archaeology was commissioned to carry out this watching brief and the work was undertaken between October 2022 and January 2023. While there is evidence for human activity in the wider area from the end of the last Ice Age onwards, the site is located on the edge of the medieval town centre in an area known to have had buildings and associated gardens from at least the early 19th century. A pub, later the Union Inn, was located on the west corner of the plot by at least the late 19th century and the area that became the beer garden was occupied by the photographic studio of SS Crewdson during the second half of the 19th century.
The watching brief revealed deep deposits evident across parts of the site, with the original ground level evidently sloping down to the south-east towards the beck that runs through the town. The earliest deposit of archaeological interest contained a mixture of medieval and early post-medieval pottery, as well as animal bone and iron working slag, perhaps from iron smelting. Above this was a substantial deposit of soil that contained large amounts of glass, pottery, animal bone and other finds, indicating that the area had been used for dumping rubbish in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps immediately following the closure of the photographic studio. More recent deposits associated with the demolition of structures on the site as well as more recent topsoil were also present.
Although no features of archaeological interest were discovered, the presence of medieval pottery and evidence for early iron working, possibly smelting, are, however, both significant in adding to the wider understanding of the town’s development in the medieval and post-medieval periods. The collection of post-medieval finds also includes several interesting examples of complete and partial bottles relating to various companies, including several local ones. |
