England's Historic Seascapes: Liverpool Bay Pilot Area
Wessex Archaeology, 2006. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000010. How to cite using this DOI
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 745
- ALSF Project Number: 3783
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000010
- How to cite using this DOI
England's Historic Seascapes: Liverpool Bay Pilot Area
ALSF Project Number 3783
Wessex Archaeology, 2006
Liverpool Bay Dredging Area Character Area
Present Day Form
The Liverpool Bay Dredging Area is situated on the western edge of the study area at the UK 12 nautical mile limit. It is delineated on its eastern edge by the Liverpool Bay character area. The area is characterised as a restricted area of intrusive offshore industry, exemplified by the extraction of marine aggregates. The seabed morphology is one of subdued slopes with a series of sand ribbons running east west along the southern limit of the character area. The sediment in the area consists of gravelly sand (marine sediment) and the habitat is made up of fine sediment plains. The tidal range is high.
Sea Use: present
The area is characterised as restricted: used for the extraction of marine aggregates exemplified by sand dredging. Aggregate extraction has been taking place in Liverpool Bay since 1959, with current levels of extraction at about 280,000 tonnes per annum (SeaScape Energy, 2002; 4). At present, the active extraction of aggregates in the wider licensed area in Liverpool Bay has not quite entered the Liverpool Bay Dredging Area, although it is very likely the area will be dredged in time. As a result, the main activities in the area at present are fishing and maritime transport, although the area is still characterised as an area of intrusive industry due to its most likely dominant use as a source of aggregates.
Sea Use: past
The Liverpool Bay Dredging Area's current appearance has been shaped by thousands of years of dynamic marine transgressions. The coastline has therefore shifted dramatically since the earliest evidence for human activity. According to bathymetric data and the sea-level model produced from it, this area would have been dry land until the Mesolithic period when it would have become coastal or intertidal. According to the sea-level change model the area was likely to have been inundated during the last marine transgression by the Late Mesolithic. However, the depth of overlying marine deposits on the former land surfaces is unknown therefore this can only be considered an assumption. Nevertheless, the earliest archaeological evidence from Lancashire dates to the Upper Palaeolithic, hence it is likely that our early predecessors exploited these landscapes.
Neolithic links across the Irish Sea are shown by artefacts such as handaxes produced in Ireland found in Britain and vice versa. Axes made from porcellanite, a stone only found in Antrim and Rathlin Island off Northern Ireland have been found in Scotland, England and Wales. While the precise route of transport can only be speculated it is possible that vessels of this period crossed the Irish Sea in this area bound for the mouths of the Dee, Mersey and Ribble. Finds of artefacts made from British sourced stones have also been found in Ireland (Breen & Forsythe, 2004; 32-33).
Substantial marine traffic between the west coast of Lancashire and the Isle of Man from the Bronze Age onwards is suggested by material culture found on the island (Bowen, 1970; 25-27). This may have been an important trade route in pre and proto-historic times.
There may have been a substantial harbour near the modern town of Fleetwood in pre-Roman times. Ptolemy's Geography lists a Portus Setantiorum at the southern edge of Morecambe Bay. The name suggests it was a seaport controlled or used by the Setantii, a sub-tribe of the powerful Brigantes, known to have lived in Lancashire. If this port did exist then the character area is likely to have seen some marine traffic in this era.
It is likely that Roman port of Chester generated marine traffic to cross the character area. The same is likely of the influx of Vikings into Lancashire from the Isle of Man in the 10th and 11th centuries. By the Medieval period ports like Bristol, Chester and Dublin were busy centres of trade around the Irish Sea. Maritime traffic between these ports and the continent is likely to have been substantial (Breen & Forsythe, 2004; 71). The demise of the port of Chester and the associated rise of the port of Liverpool dominates the Post Medieval patterns of coastal, continental and new world trade.
The exploitation of marine aggregates began in the Bristol Channel in the 1920s, and has developed until the aggregate industry has become increasingly dependant on marine resources (Gubbay, 2005; 4). Aggregate extraction has been going on in the Liverpool Bay dredging area since 1959.
Archaeological Potential
There were 67 reported casualties in the Liverpool Bay Dredging Area between 1753 and 1948 and one obstruction (an anchor and cable) which is noted to have been removed by the UKHO. The high number of casualties versus the low number of known sites may illustrate a low intensity of survey for the area, perhaps because the area has a sufficient depth of water for vessels to navigate freely. Should the area be surveyed in greater detail, perhaps in advance of aggregate extraction, the presence of further vessel remains may be revealed. The high number of casualties attributed to this area reflects a degree of uncertainty about the location of many vessels recorded as lost in the wider Liverpool Bay region; all of which could survive on the seabed almost anywhere in these waters.
According to bathymetric data and the sea-level change model produced from it, the character area was inundated by the Late Mesolithic period. The existence of any in situ or derived Upper Palaeolithic or Mesolithic material is possible. It is unlikely that aggregate extraction will impact significantly on former landscapes evidenced by peat deposits: as a result of the fact that peat contaminates aggregates.
Any potential in situ archaeological material in the character area from the Neolithic period onwards would have to be of a maritime nature. It is likely that the area has experienced significant marine use and vessel traffic from the Neolithic right up to the modern day. The intensity of sea use in prehistory is conjectural and although shipwrecks from this period could exist, their survival would be unusual. There is also potential for unrecorded shipwrecks from the later periods. Within areas of active production it is possible for these to be protected by exclusion zones.
Character Perceptions
The area is perceived as an area of offshore industry, exemplified by the aggregate industry. While this is the most obvious activity, it does not occur to the exclusion of other maritime activities in the area. Other vessels are free to traverse the licensed aggregate area, which lies on the seabed and does not comprise the waters above it. However, such licensed aggregate areas are closed to fishing during extraction although this only affects small parts of the overall licensed area at any one time (Rogers, 1997; 16). The preference of the industry for waters of this depth with the appropriate seabed aggregate resource reflects the perception of this area as one of economic value, utilised by the aggregate industry.
References
Bowen, E. G. 1970, Britain and the British Seas. In Moore,
D (ed.), The Irish Sea Province in Archaeology and
History, Cambrian Archaeological Association, Cardiff
Breen, C & Forsythe, W. 2004, Boats and Shipwrecks of
Ireland, Tempus, Stroud
Cowell, R. 1996, 'The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic',
Newman, R. (ed.), The Archaeology of Lancashire:
Present State and Future Priorities, pp. 19-34,
Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, Lancaster
Gubbay, Dr. S. July 2005, A Review of Marine Aggregate
Extraction in England and Wales, 1970-2005, The Crown
Estate
O’Neill, T, 1989, 'Trade and Shipping on the
Irish Sea in the Later Middle Ages', McCaughan, M.
& Appleby, J. 1989, The Irish Sea: aspects of
maritime history, Cultra, Co. Down
Rogers, S. I. 1997, A review of closed areas in the
United Kingdom Exclusive Economic Zone, The Centre for
Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Science
Series, Technical Report No 106
SeaScape Energy, 2002, Burbo Offshore Wind farm Scoping
Report, SeaScape Energy, Lancashire
