Series: ArcHeritage unpublished report series

Evaluation trenching at Manchester Road, Deepcar (Area 1) was followed on by mitigation by strip, map and record. During the evaluation a possible prehistoric linear feature was identified, containing a broken flint flake, in Trench 1. The mitigation was targeted on the area around Trench 1, with the aim of establishing the authenticity, extent and date of the potential feature. In total, the mitigation area measured 0.06 hectares in total, from which 18 worked flint artefacts were recovered. None of these were observed to be within any clear cut features; some of these were from the subsoil deposit, although the majority of recovered flints were recovered from a cluster at the north-western end of the site. As a result of stripped a larger area around the vicinity of Evaluation Trench 1, it has been determined that the possible prehistoric linear feature tentatively recovered during the evaluation is likely to simply represent natural variation in the subsoil deposit.

On the 2nd March 2020 the York Archaeological Trust conducted a building recording exercise at 39 Bootham, York (SE 60002 52366). The work was commissioned by Michael Hammill on behalf of the current owner of the property to response to a condition for historic building recording attached to a City of York Council planning application (19/02134/FUL). The work was based on a Written Scheme of Investigation produced by YAT. 39 Bootham was built c.1746 as part of a terrace of houses. The building comprises a three storey end-of-terrace house with a basement, attic and two-storey rear wing. The house is constructed of red brick with painted stone dressings. The principal elevation faces south-west onto Bootham. The main range has a gabled M-shaped roof clad in plain tiles and pan tiles whilst the rear range has a gabled roof glad in Welsh slate and pan tiles. The house originally consisted of just the main range, but cartographic evidence and that of the building's fabric suggests that the building's rear wing was constructed in a piecemeal fashion over a number of years before being completely replaced by the present structure in the late 19th century. The main range itself was overhauled itself in c.1800 with modifications to the windows and the decorative scheme to the ground and first floors. The second floor and staircase are well preserved and are probably original to the house. The ground floor was converted into a shop in the early 20th century, before the house was purchased and restored by the Hartley family in the late 20th century giving the house its current appearance and layout.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken on repair work to the access routes to Church Hole Cave and Pin Hole Cave, which are situated within Creswell Crags, a Scheduled Monument and Site of Special Scientific Interest. Previous works had identified the potential for encountering artefacts and ecofacts within the scree slope below the cave, some clearly derived from the caves, probably as spoil from excavations. The watching brief was monitored by Historic England. The repair work on the access to Church Hole Cave did not entail any excavation of the deposits surrounding the cave mouth. The works at Pin Hole Cave comprised removal of partially rotten wooden steps and the excavation of 16 post holes for vertical wooden hand rail supports. No archaeological features, structures or deposits were impacted upon during the monitored works, and no lithics or ecofacts were disturbed.

Archaeological trial trenching was undertaken at the former tin mill at Wortley, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Previous surveys undertaken at the site recorded widespread remains associated with a former tin and iron rolling mill, including limited structural remains, possible wheel pits and several goits. Five trenches were excavated, with excavation undertaken by members of the local community and local school groups. Whilst limited and actively eroding above-ground structural remains are present at the site, the results of the evaluation suggest that the survival of below-ground structural remains of the former mill is good. Possible machine bases, walls, floor surfaces, rolling waste and timbers were present in Trench 1, along with evidence of a former east to west aligned wheel pit and axel base for the wheel itself. The remains of a second, probably later, wheel pit aligned north to south in Trench 4 were also recorded, along with substantial accumulation of made-ground deposits in Trenches 2 and 3 and a wall and brick-lined drain in Trench 5. These remains are considered to be of local to regional significance.

An historic building survey and watching brief on groundworks at the Grade II listed cruck barn at Hazlehurst Farm, were undertaken in advance of its renovation and conversion into a residential unit and workshop. The programme of works included the demolition of a 1950s outshot on the east side of the barn. At the time of the works, the Hazlehurst Farm complex including a farmhouse, a derelict cottage, a former dairy, the cruck barn and modern steel framed agricultural buildings. The purpose of the building survey was to provide a detailed photographic and written record of the phasing, fabric and features of the cruck barn. The purpose of the watching brief was to monitor all groundworks and record any archaeological finds or features exposed. The survey identified three key phases of construction and alteration: 1) construction of a timber-framed cruck barn in the 16th century; 2) late 18th- to early 19th-century remodelling, including replacement of the barn walls with stone, alteration of the interior layout, construction of an outshot and re-roofing; 3) 20th-century modifications, including the construction of a smaller outshot on the east side in the 1950s. The only feature identified in the watching brief was a stone-lined drain beneath 18th- to 20th-century floor deposits.

The fieldwork consisted of RCHME Level 1 photographic recording of five standing buildings at a steelworks formerly owned by Firth Rixson Ltd. The buildings are scheduled to be demolished for the construction of a biomass energy generator. Only one of the buildings was considered to be associated with the 19th-century works of Steel, Peech and Tozer; the others were constructed at various stages in the 20th century. Photographic recording included the exteriors and interiors of all buildings except one, which was of late 20th-century date. The buildings formerly housed a hammer forge, cold rolling plant, annealing plant, mechanised spring shops, a workers' canteen and offices and amenity facilities.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken at land off Osborne Road, Todwick to assess the potential for the survival of archaeological remains within the site. The evaluation comprised twelve 50m by 2m trenches, which contained limited archaeological evidence. A total of four land drains and three linear features, aligned north to south, were recorded across the site. The function of the linear features is unclear and it is possible that they represent recent ground disturbance at the site. Twelve sherds of pottery were recovered from two of the linear features, although these ranged in date from medieval to 19th century and as such are likely represent disturbed deposits. Only two probable late medieval pottery sherds were recovered from these deposits, and the material was residual. This suggests that occupation activity in the medieval period was concentrated on the core of the village, with the majority of the site being part of one or more fields from this period onwards. No indication of activity pre-dating the medieval period was found during the evaluation.

Archaeological evaluation was undertaken at Charles Street as a condition of planning permission for redevelopment of the site. The fieldwork comprised three trial trenches. One trench was excavated in the vacant lot, revealing evidence of large-scale disruption of any archaeological remains resulting from the removal of foundations and basements. Two trenches were located in the car park, revealing good survival of archaeological features and deposits associated with 19th- to 20th-century activity. Trench 1 exposed foundations and cellars associated with early 19th-century terraced houses, though the yard to the rear had been truncated by mid-20th-century walls. Trench 2 contained a cellar and stone flag surface associated with a works fronting onto Charles Street. No evidence for furnaces or industrial processes were found in this trench. The remains are considered to be of local archaeological significance. Any requirements for further archaeological work should be agreed with SYAS.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken at the site of the boiler house for the Newcomen-type beam engine at Elsecar New Colliery, to inform proposed conservation works at the site. The works formed part of a community archaeology and art project designed to engage members of the local community and school children at the site, in partnership with Great Place Wentworth and Elsecar, and Elsecar Heritage Action Zone, in the summer of 2019. The results of the investigations suggest that the boiler house dates to the mid-19th century, its final layout perhaps being an extension to a smaller structure shown in 1859, itself a replacement of a longer building possibly housing a wagon boiler. The latest phase of the boiler house contained two fixed, cylindrical externally-fired boilers set into brick-built cavities within the ground, supported on the brickwork and at the top by iron brackets. The fire grates and ash pits were accessed from a stoking cellar to the west, with a coal chute providing fuel directly into the cellars. Due to the confines of the trenches, it was not possible to reach the base of the structures, but the results support the very limited documentary evidence available and adds to the interpretation of the boiler house remains.

In 2017 and 2018, small-scale archaeological investigations were undertaken on the remains of a garden at the Broomhill Community Library, Sheffield. The fieldwork was undertaken to support Broomhill Community Trust's funding bid for the restoration of the garden, and was undertaken with volunteers and University of Sheffield archaeology students, supervised by ArcHeritage. The library was built around 1870 as a private house, with a garden to the east. Around 1927, Arthur Samuel Lee commissioned Percy Cane to create a modern garden that included flagged areas with inset flower beds, a central pond, pergola, loggia, and a dipping well. Cane was a well-known Arts and Crafts-influenced garden designer, who worked on country house estates and the grounds of Haile Selassie's palace in Addis Ababa. The Broomhill Library garden is his smallest known commission and the only one recorded in Sheffield. The garden was maintained until 2003, when thieves stole most of the flagstones and the area was largely abandoned to self-seeded vegetation. The aims of the archaeological investigations were to establish the extent of survival of features relating to the Percy Cane garden and to provide information that would inform restoration proposals. The fieldwork revealed that significant elements of the garden design survive, including some surviving flagstones, the foundations for the pergola and loggia, and much of the structure of the central pond feature. The probable remains of narrow flowerbeds set within former flagged areas were also identified.