Doncaster Local Plan: Archaeological Scoping Assessment Allocation
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Doncaster Local Plan: Archaeological Scoping Assessment Allocation Reference: 251 Area (Ha): 13.21 Allocation Type: Housing/Employment NGR (centre): SK 4920 9882 Site Name: Hill Top Rd, Denaby Main Settlement: Denaby Allocation Recommendations Archaeological significance of site Unknown Historic landscape significance Negligible Suitability of site for allocation Uncertain archaeological constraint Summary Within site Within buffer zone Scheduled Monument - - Listed Building - - SMR record/event - 2 records Cropmark/Lidar evidence No Yes Cartographic features of interest Yes Yes Estimated sub-surface disturbance Low n/a www.archeritage.co.uk Page 1 of 3 Doncaster Local Plan: Archaeological Scoping Assessment Allocation Reference: 251 Area (Ha): 13.21 Allocation Type: Housing/Employment NGR (centre): SK 4920 9882 Site Name: Hill Top Rd, Denaby Main Settlement: Denaby Site assessment Known assets/character: The SMR does not record any features within the site. Two monuments are recorded in the buffer zone, a Romano-British artefact scatter found in the western area, and post-medieval mine shaft hollows to the southwest. No listed buildings or Scheduled Monuments are recorded within the site or the buffer zone. The Magnesian Limestone in South and West Yorkshire Aerial Photographic Mapping Project recorded earthworks associated with a 20th-century munitions factory in the buffer zone to the northwest of the site, and a group of coal mine shaft hollows to the northwest, west and southwest. Possible ridge and furrow earthworks were recorded within the eastern end of Denaby Wood. The Historic Environment Characterisation records the present character of the site as Modern Agglomerated Fields and Modern Other Industry. The landscape character within the site is mainly large fields produced through the loss of boundaries in the 20th century, with no legibility of former landscapes, whilst a small portion of the north part of the site falls within a modern industrial estate which developed after the closure of Denaby Main Colliery. An explosive works associated with the mine was within this zone from the late 19th to mid-20th century. Within the buffer, the landscape character includes Denaby Wood, possibly ancient woodland, to the west of the site, and an area of Modern Agglomerated Fields created through the clearance of part of the wood in the mid- 20th century. To the south of the site are further Modern Agglomerated Fields with no legibility of the former enclosure landscape, and 20th-century residential development which replaced the late 19th-century mining village. With the exception of the late 19th-century Flameless Explosives Company testing range and a small area of scrub, the site has been in agricultural use since at least 1841. Cartographic/historic land use assessment: No features were shown within the site on Thomas Jefferys’ 1771 map of Yorkshire or Christopher Greenwood’s 1817 map of the county. A single field boundary shown crossing the western part of the site on the 1841 Ordnance Survey map remained extant in 1854, when the remainder of the site had been divided into fields. A land drain crossed the northern part of the site at that date. The Flameless Explosives Company manufactured ‘securite’, for use in mining, in the northern part of the buffer zone in 1884 and the company’s testing range was shown as an excavated area within the site on the 1892 OS map, including a narrow gully that survives within the site. The explosives works remained open in 1903 but had been demolished by 1930, although the testing range continued to be shown. Few of the 19th-century field boundaries remained within the site by 1973. Within the buffer zone, the track to the south of the site was shown on Jefferys’ 1771 map, along with Denaby Wood to the west. A quarry was marked in the eastern part of the buffer zone in 1841. Coalpit Plantation, marked but not named on the 1854 OS map, may have been established to screen disused mine workings, with numerous shaft hollows depicted on aerial photography in the vicinity. An air shaft was marked in the southern part of the buffer area in 1892. The Flameless Explosives Works had been constructed to the north of the site in 1884. Several explosives magazines, a reservoir and a works’ waggonway were shown to the north of the site in 1893. A munitions factory was constructed in this area during the Second World War and remained extant in 1966, by which time it had extended into Denaby Wood. While the factory continued to be shown in 1972, much of this area was cleared in the 1980s. Survival: Due to the lack of deep ground disturbance in the majority of the site, the potential for survival of any previously unrecorded heritage assets is considered to be moderate. A linear gully possibly associated with the former Flameless Explosives Company testing range remains extant but its condition is currently unknown. Mining www.archeritage.co.uk Page 2 of 3 Doncaster Local Plan: Archaeological Scoping Assessment remains are recorded to the north, west and south of the site, but currently no associated features are recorded within the site. Further investigations: Further archaeological investigations may be required if the site is brought forward for development. Significance: Unknown. Remains associated with the explosives testing range could be considered to be of Local significance. Aerial Photographs & Lidar Summary: Twenty-first-century aerial photographs show the site in use as arable, with the exception of an area of scrub immediately to the south of Eland Road and the former Flameless Explosives Company testing range, which was heavily-wooded by 2002. A belt of trees runs along the southern boundary of the site. There is no Lidar coverage for this site. Photograph references: Google Earth coverage, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009 & 2015. SMR Record/event Reference Name Details Site? Buffer? ID 4672 Romano-British Location of Romano-British artefact scatter including several Y Artefact Scatter, pieces of pottery and a possible early medieval “Danish” axe Denaby Wood, head. Denaby 4793 Post-Medieval Bell Bell pits near Denaby Main identified by aerial photography by Y Pits near Denaby English Heritage. Main SMR Historic Environment Characterisation Reference Name Details Site? Buffer? ID HSY5321 Denaby Lane Industrial Estate, Denaby Main, Modern Other Industry Y Y Doncaster HSY5379 Land south of Denaby Main Village, Doncaster Modern Agglomerated fields Y Y HSY3194 Land north of Hooton Roberts, Rotherham Modern Agglomerated fields Y HSY4006 Formerly Denaby Wood, Rotherham Modern Agglomerated fields Y HSY4557 Denaby Wood, Denaby, Doncaster Medieval to Modern Ancient Y Woodland HSY5320 Harrogate Drive area, Denaby Main, Doncaster Modern Planned Estate (Social Y Housing) www.archeritage.co.uk Page 3 of 3 Doncaster Local Plan: Archaeological Scoping Assessment Allocation Reference: 252 Area (Ha): 8.26 Allocation Type: Housing NGR (centre): SE 5350 0251 Site Name: Spring Lane, Sprotbrough Settlement: Sprotbrough Allocation Recommendations Archaeological significance of site Unknown Historic landscape significance Uncertain Suitability of site for allocation Uncertain archaeological constraint Summary Within site Within buffer zone Scheduled Monument - - Listed Building - 1 SMR record/event - 6 records Cropmark/Lidar evidence Yes Yes Cartographic features of interest Yes Yes Estimated sub-surface disturbance Partial n/a www.archeritage.co.uk Page 1 of 3 Doncaster Local Plan: Archaeological Scoping Assessment Allocation Reference: 252 Area (Ha): 8.26 Allocation Type: Housing NGR (centre): SE 5350 0251 Site Name: Spring Lane, Sprotbrough Settlement: Sprotbrough Site assessment Known assets/character: The SMR does not record any findspots, monuments or events within the site. Four findspots and two monuments are recorded in the buffer zone: a Roman coin, a medieval coin, a bell cross base, the sites of two former medieval crosses and a large complex of Iron Age-Roman enclosures. There are no Scheduled Monuments or listed buildings within the site. One Grade II listed building is recorded in the buffer: a resited cross base to the west of the Spring Lane junction. The Magnesian Limestone in South and West Yorkshire Aerial Photographic Mapping Project recorded levelled ridge and furrow in the south-west part of the site. Iron Age-Roman boundary ditch cropmarks and further levelled ridge and furrow were recorded in the buffer zone. The Historic Environment Characterisation records the present character of the site as Agglomerated Fields. This land was formerly characterised by large piecemeal enclosures and scattered small woodlands but between 1948 and 1966 agglomeration and intensification processes have resulted in much larger agricultural units. There is fragmentary legibility of older boundaries and some evidence of open field agriculture in the form of field names. Character zones within the buffer are defined as Agglomerated Fields, Private Housing Estate and Semi-Detached Housing. Cartographic/historic land use assessment: The1854 Ordnance Survey map showed a small disused limestone quarry in the northern part of the site. The remainder of the site comprised parts of several fields, with a short access road from Spring Lane. Many of the mid-19th-century field boundaries had been removed by 1892, A small, detached building stood in the former quarry site at that date. This was marked as a greenhouse on the 1903 OS map. Further field boundaries had been removed by that date. The greenhouse remained extant in 1948, was not shown on the 1956 map but was again shown on the 1961 OS map. Further field boundaries had been removed by that date. No changes were shown within the site on the 1980 OS map. Numerous features were shown within the buffer zone on the 1854 OS map, including Clay Pit Plantation, Fox Flat Plantation, the pedestal of a stone cross, the pedestal of a bell cross, Spring Lane, Folder Lane and Toocroft Lane. The LNER railway line was shown in 1904 to the immediate east of the site.