Series: SLR Consulting unpublished report series

Sasco Properties (the client), have applied for planning permission to extend an existing structure on land at 1 St Albans Road, Leicester (NGR: SK 598 036) and convert it into a student accommodation block. The development has been granted outline planning permission (20172700). The client commissioned SLR Consulting to design and implement this scheme of work. A Written Scheme of Investigation was previously agreed with the planning authority and this document forms a report on the works. The work involved the excavation and recording of three 10m trenches

Three monitoring visits were made to 21-27 Humes Avenue, Ealing (NGR TQ 154 795), during June and July 2012 by an experienced archaeologist to monitor ground works during construction of residential housing by Bugler Developments Ltd. On each occasion a record was made of the deposits revealed in the open trench sides, which showed that no archaeological remains were disturbed by the construction works. A quarry pit, as well as a 20th century brick-lined well and made ground, were evident cut into, and overlying, the natural sequence of London Clay, terrace gravels, and alluvial clay.

Three 10m trenches each with a single test pits at one end to investigate the deep alluvial river deposits. Anticipated potential further mitigation work proved to be unnecessary.

In March 2020 SLR was approached by Michael Randall, acting on behalf of the Parochial Church Council for All Saints Church, Baschurch, Shropshire, for assistance with the archaeological implications in relation to the repair of a graveyard retaining wall which collapsed into a neighbouring garden following storms earlier in the year. The site is centred at National Grid reference SJ 422 218, and forms the southern boundary wall to the graveyard, which is a western extension to the churchyard surrounding the church. The graveyard is c.1.6m higher than the surrounding land, and the wall has collapsed into land that formerly formed part of the adjacent Moor Farm, recently converted into residential units as part of a development called Bassa Road. The Diocesan Advisory Council (DAC) and their archaeological advisor have indicated that this work might reveal human remains from the graveyard, and that an appropriate level of archaeological response would be required as part of the overall project

SLR Consulting Limited was instructed by Care UK to provide an Archaeological Field Evaluation in support of a planning application for a care home. The evaluation was undertaken across land ('the Site') located to the north of Bath Road within a mixed residential/ agricultural area on the north-western edge of Corsham. Approximate National Grid Reference for centre of the Site is ST 86508 70879. The results of the trial trenching suggest that archaeological features are absent from the site and that the ceramics recorded during the ground investigation were distributed by ploughing.

SLR Consulting were commissioned byWestern Power Distribution (Project Manager: Kevin Tudor) to undertake an archaeological watching brief on a 4m trench across a section of High Street, Shrewsbury (centred on NGR SJ 492198 124373). The watching brief was implemented following a request to excavate a service trench across High Street, Shrewsbury, east of 39-41 High Street.

SLR Consulting were commissioned by Shingler Group (the Client) to undertake a programme of site investigation in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation to mitigate the potential impacts of a new residential housing scheme on land north of Ash Road, Ash Magna (planning ref: 14/03484/OUT). The cut features that were identified during trial trenching consisted of a pit, two gullies and a ditch in Trenches 1 and 2, as well as a probable sand quarry in the central southern part of the site. The fills within the features suggested relatively recent topsoil-type infill, and the artefactual evidence from one pot sherd and brick fragments suggested a post-medieval and probably relatively recent (19th century) date.

SLR Consulting Limited was instructed by Mr Dennis Myers to conduct the programme of archaeological evaluation and potential mitigation at New Road, Lambourne, Essex. The purpose of the work was to determine the extent and nature of any archaeological remains and any impacts on them. Mitigation would potentially have been included but proved unnecessary in the event. It was carried out in accordance with a written scheme of investigation (WSI) prepared by SLR Consulting, with trench layouts and extents subsequently modified due to site constraints, by agreement with Essex County Council’s planning archaeologist. The fieldwork consisted of the machine excavation of five trial trenches and part of a sixth, the recording of the deposit sequence within the trenches, the creation of a drawn and photographic record and a survey of their locations, dimension and elevations. Trenches 2, 4 and 5 found evidence that the construction of tennis courts and more general landscaping had resulted in the reduction of the original surface levels natural deposits over a large proportion of the development area. Trench 1 was targeted on a boundary and building connected with Bishop’s Hall that was visible on 19th century tithe map. No evidence of these features was found in the trench and it was concluded that they had been comprehensively removed in subsequent landscaping. A dip in strata in Trench 3 corresponded with the edge of a lane shown on the 1845 tithe map, while site inspection indicated that an earlier building had been incorporated in the existing early 20th century house close by. This building corresponded with a rectangular feature shown on the tithe map. A lodge shown on the map was seen to lie outside the development area and would not be affected by development.

An archaeological evaluation and mitigation works have been undertaken by SLR Consulting on behalf of Balfour Beatty at Castle View School, Sunderland (NGR 435489 558331). The work was executed intermittently during 2008 and 2009 around construction activities to facilitate the discharge of a planning condition on consent for a programme to rebuild the school (Planning Reference 07/05268/LAP). The archaeological mitigation works identified significant archaeological remains in the form of a segmented ditch (or pit alignment) and a ditch dated by OSL to the 1st Millennium BC.

Strip, Map and Sample excavation of a half hectare open field on land off Sheppey Way, Iwade, Kent. The major features consisted of a quadrant of a twin-ditched Iron Age enclosure with a small interior gully in the southeast of the site, a larger single linear ditch to the west, numerous pits of varying sizes and isolated post-holes. Part of the site was overlain by alluvium, which was partially excavated via trenches. Artefactual evidence was limited, but did provide dating evidence for a majority of large features.