| Abstract: |
McNicholas Construction Services have submitted proposals to Lancashire County Council Environment Directorate for the construction of a three-turbine wind farm at Hameldon Hill, New Barn Farm, Burnley, Lancashire (Planning Reference 12/02/0516, NGR SD 8150 3050). Following a desk-based assessment of the site undertaken by the Centre for Wetland Research (CWR 2002), Lancashire County Archaeological Services (LCAS) requested that all groundworks associated with the development should be the subject of an archaeological watching brief. These groundworks comprised construction of an access road and the excavation of footings and pads for the wind turbines themselves, but also for cranes to construct the turbines. Following the submission of costs and a project design, OA North were commissioned by McNicholas Construction Services to undertake the watching brief. The watching brief, undertaken between February and March 2006, revealed no evidence of discrete archaeological features or deposits in any of the proposed turbine locations or beneath the route of the access road. However, a number of earthworks, including banks, mounds and ridge and furrow were present within the field in which the turbines were constructed and, in several instances, were transected by the access road. Following consultation with LCAS and, in agreement with the client, these earthworks were recorded by a rapid walkover and GPS survey in order to establish their location and state of preservation and so inform future planning decisions on the site. In total, eleven features were identified, including four banks, two areas of ridge and furrow, a possible building platform, an enclosure, a mound and two embanked depressions. The function of the latter three features could not be identified on the basis of the current limited investigation, but it is likely that the banks represented boundaries within a possibly medieval field system characterised by the ridge and furrow. |
