Lancaster District Development Opportunity Sites (at draft Local Plan stage) Initial Desktop Archaeological Assessment 11 January 2018 Lancashire Archaeological Advisory Service 1 Carr House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1SW [email protected] Introduction and Methodology Lancaster City Council, as part of the evidence base to support the emerging Local Plan, require an archaeological assessment of a number of sites across the Lancaster District, proposed to be allocated for development. Lancashire Archaeological Advisory Service has been commissioned to extract a relevant data set from the Lancashire Historic Environment Record, held by Lancashire County Council, and to provide an initial archaeological appraisal of each of the proposed development sites in order to identify any nearby archaeological heritage assets and to assess the potential scale of impact. The boundaries of the sites, names, etc. were provided by Lancaster City Council as ArcGIS shapefiles. For each site the following information has been requested: • Identification of known heritage assets (designated and non-designated) within the site; • Outline assessment of the site's potential to retain unknown buried deposits; • Identification of designated or non-designated heritage assets nominally within 500m or such other distance as may be appropriate, taking into account the significance of the asset and the circumstances of the site; • Overall conclusion to establish whether the site is considered to be of no archaeological significance/ of some archaeological significance/ of high archaeological significance and whether any heritage assets are considered to be of negligible/local/regional/national importance; • Recommendations for future survey, where it is deemed appropriate. The assessment has been undertaken utilising existing datasets, archaeological reports, publications, etc. held at the Lancashire Historic Environment Record. No further documentary research has been undertaken nor have further sources of information been sought out. Only where specifically stated has a targetted site visit also been conducted. Limits of this assessment This assessment work has been undertaken using professional judgement by Peter Iles, BSc MSc MCIfA. No formal system of scoring has been used to assign potential or significance to the proposed development sites, although experience of such procedures and of providing information and advice on archaeological planning matters in Lancashire has contributed to the conclusions drawn. Statements that follow should therefore be taken as an informed professional opinion, rather than fact. 1 2 LPSA: 742 Former TDG Site, Warton Road, Carnforth Located on the north edge of Carnforth, this site was formerly occupied by the Carnforth Ironworks, opened in 1864. Over its life it had a total of six blast furnaces and two Bessemer converters, the latter for steel production. Along with the railway depot the ironworks was one of the main drivers for the development of the present town. Steel production was not a commercial success at Carnforth and that part of the works was dismantled and the equipment sold off in 1895. The remainder of the site continued in operation until it was closed and mainly demolished in 1929, following the exhaustion of the company's iron mines in Furness. Little remains of the works now, the major survival being the offices along Warton Road and, to their north, the massive wall of the former steel plant. As well as these historic remains, the site currently contains a small number of corrugated Nissen-type huts along its south east boundary, each flanked by solid walls. It has been suggested (but not confirmed) that these are remnants of a longer row dating from WWII, with the walls intended as blast protection to the huts. The remainder of the site is covered with modern industrial buildings, access roads and hardstanding. It is very unlikely that any buried remains pre- dating the iron works will survive here. The western portion of the site, including the former ironworks offices, is included in the Carnforth Conservation Area and development proposals will need to take this into account. The closest Listed building to the development site is the Gd II former signal box on the north end of Carnforth Station platform (c. 20m to the northwest, outside the site boundary) and the Carnforth Junction Signal Box, a little to the west (40m from the development boundary). Further west across the railway lies the extensive former 'Steamtown' railway complex, containing a series of Gd II and II* railway structures. None of these designated heritage assets are likely to be significantly affected by works within the development site, particularly if the extant historic walls forming the development site boundary on this side are retained. The surviving elements of the iron works are considered to be of high local significance, and the Nissen-type huts of lower local significance. The remainder of the site is of negligible architectural and archaeological significance. The surviving ironworks remains should be preserved in situ if at all possible. Any planning application which could affect them should be accompanied by a heritage statement including the results of a desk-based assessment and walk-over survey. No intrusive archaeological fieldwork is likely to be required here however. The surviving Nissen-type huts and associated blast walls would merit photographic recording before demolition, but this work can be undertaken as a condition of any planning consent, as would any full recording of the ironworks structures. LPSA: 722 Galgate Mill This development site includes the later brick-built blocks of Galgate Silk Mill, opened in 1852 as an extension to the late 18th century stone-built mill on the east side of Chapel Lane. The complex appears to have been steam-powered from the start and incorporated an earlier beam engine house and chimney. This had been erected in 1832 and had a tunnel under the road to provide drive to the earlier mill. A mill pond, probably for supplying and cooling the steam engine rather than providing water-power, lay north of the mill buildings. The mill stopped textile production in 1970 and has since been used for a variety of light industrial, warehouse and retail uses, although proposals have been submitted in recent years for its conversion to residential. The historic mill is Listed Gd II, and 3 it is now accompanied by some later buildings and hardstanding. It is possible that some buried remains, such as the infilled mill pond, will survive under these hardstanding areas. As noted above the mill is Listed Gd II, as is the older stone-built mill on the east side of Chapel Lane. Ellel House, also Listed Gd II, stands on the site's northern boundary, beyond which is the Gd II Church of St John. To the southwest (66m) the closest Listed Building is 1-3 Chapel Cottages, also Gd II. By definition the mill and its setting are of national significance, although the later industrial buildings on the site are of negligible significance. Any early buried remains, such as the 1832 power transmission tunnel and fittings, would be of at least county significance, but simple remains of the millpond would probably be of local significance. Any proposal for new development or physical alterations to the mill should be accompanied by a formal heritage assessment, undertaken by an appropriately-experienced industrial archaeology specialist. Full building recording and/or archaeological investigations (depending on the proposals) may however be undertaken following the grant of planning permission. LPSA: 285 and 358 Bulk Road and Lawsons Quay, Lancaster (eastern side of site has PP granted) This is a brownfield development site with a lengthy planning history. The eastern part of the site was formerly occupied by a shoe factory and scrap yard, but has been cleared of buildings and subject to some preparation works. It is possible, but not certain, that the north-eastern frontage of this part was occupied in the medieval period by the Hospital of St Leonard, but the hospital may also have lain on the other side of the road in the area of the present raised terrace. The western portion of the development site is mainly occupied by historic and modern industrial and retail buildings, but demolition has also occurred here recently. This portion is also traversed by Lancaster's medieval mill stream, culverted over in the later 19th century and in use as a sewer. Running over the line of the mill stream is a series of linear buildings, originally constructed as part of a rope walk, extant in 1880, or as infill over its site. On the western frontage is a Listed former marble works of c.1870, built in a style reminiscent of the great cotton-traders' warehouses of Manchester and now operating as a restaurant. To its south is a former block of back-to-back and yard dwellings, known as Dickinsons Buildings in 1849, of which significant traces still stand. To the north of the marble works was the site of the pre-1849 Green Ayre Foundry, much of which survived in other uses until its recent demolition. Most of the remainder of the development site was open timber yards in 1893. The very north end of the development site however overlaps the Gd II* Listed Lancaster 'Bridge Houses', associated with the adjacent Scheduled and Gd II* Skerton Bridge. These buildings have been converted and extended as part of a modern retail park. There is a limited potential for remains of the medieval St Leonards Hospital or its associated cemetery to exist on the eastern part of the development site, but any survival will depend on the level of modern earthmoving. There may also be some buried remains associated with the mill race and of the former back-to-back houses on the western part of the site. As noted above the western section of the site includes both Gd II and Gd II* buildings, and the Scheduled Skerton Bridge is only 40m from the northwest corner of the site.