Archaeological Evaluation on Land at Burlow Road, Harpur Hill, Buxton, Derbyshire (Hhbr14)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION ON LAND AT BURLOW ROAD, HARPUR HILL, BUXTON, DERBYSHIRE (HHBR14) Work Undertaken For Harpur Homes Limited May 2014 Report Compiled by Jonathon Smith MA Planning Application No: HPK/2013/0533 National Grid Reference: SK 070 703 OASIS Record No: archaeol1-178664 APS Report No. 51/14 ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION ON LAND AT BURLOW ROAD, HARPUR HILL, DERBYSHIRE CONTENTS List of Figures List of Plates 1. SUMMARY...................................................................................................................1 2. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 2.1 D EFINITION OF AN EVALUATION ...................................................................................1 2.2 P LANNING BACKGROUND ..............................................................................................1 2.3 T OPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY .......................................................................................1 2.4 A RCHAEOLOGICAL SETTING .........................................................................................1 3. AIMS .............................................................................................................................2 4. METHODS ...................................................................................................................2 5. RESULTS......................................................................................................................2 6. DISCUSSION ...............................................................................................................3 7. CONCLUSIONS...........................................................................................................3 8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................4 9. PERSONNEL ...............................................................................................................4 10. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................4 11. ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................4 Appendices 1 Specification 2 Context Descriptions 3 The Finds, by Tom Lane 4 Glossary 5 The Archive Archaeological Project Services ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION ON LAND AT BURLOW ROAD, HARPUR HILL, DERBYSHIRE List of Figures Figure 1 General location plan Figure 2 Site location plan Figure 3 North Field Grid Layout Figure 4 South Field Grid Layout List of Plates Plate 1 General Shot of North Field Plate 2 Stone Deposit (001) Plate 3 Stone Deposit (002) Plate 4 Work in progress Plate 5 Gravel Deposit (003) Plate 6 General Shot of South Field Plate 7 Deposit (004) Archaeological Project Services ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION ON LAND AT BURLOW ROAD, HARPUR HILL, DERBYSHIRE 1. SUMMARY to undertake a programme of archaeological investigation in advance of An archaeological evaluation by shovel proposed development at Burlow Road, test pitting was undertaken on land at Harpur Hill, Buxton, as detailed in Burlow Road, Harpur Hill, Buxton, Planning Application HPK/2013/0533. Derbyshire. This was in order to determine The evaluation was undertaken over two the archaeological implications of weeks between the 14 th and 25 th April proposed development at the site. 2014 in accordance with a specification prepared by Archaeological Project The area is archaeologically sensitive, Services (Appendix 1) and approved by lying in an area of various prehistoric the Derby and Derbyshire Development remains and artefact scatters. Stone tools Control Archaeologist. of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age date have been found nearby and several 2.3 Topography and Geology Bronze Age barrows are recorded in the vicinity. A Roman road and pottery scatter Buxton is located 32km west of of the period has been identified nearby Chesterfield and 48km northwest of and Saxon burial mounds are also Derby, in the administrative district of recorded. Parts of the investigated area High Peak, Derbyshire (Fig. 1). have been affected by recent quarrying. Harpur Hill is located approximately 2km The evaluation resulted in the discovery of south of the centre of Buxton. The a single prehistoric, possibly Late proposed development site comprises two Palaeolithic, flint and identified several areas either side of Burlow Road and is undated and modern deposits. centred on National Grid Reference SK 070 703 (Fig. 2). 2. INTRODUCTION Local soils are of the Malham 2 Association, typical brown earths (SSEW 2.1 Definition of an Evaluation 1983). These soils are developed on a solid geology of Carboniferous limestones of An archaeological evaluation is defined as the Bee Low Formation which is traversed ‘a limited programme of non-intrusive by a linear band of Lower Millers Dale and/or intrusive fieldwork which Lava (GSGB 1978). The northern area lies determines the presence or absence of on a moderate slope down to the southeast archaeological features, structures, from a height of 365m OD dropping down deposits, artefacts or ecofacts within a to 345m OD. The southern area slopes specified area or site. If such down to the northeast, from 360m OD to archaeological remains are present Field 340m OD. Evaluation defines their character and extent, quality and preservation, and it 2.4 Archaeological Setting enables an assessment of their worth in a local, regional, national or international Mesolithic (10,000 – 4000 BC), Neolithic context as appropriate’ (IfA 2008). (4000-2200 BC) and Bronze Age (2200- 800 BC) stone tools are recorded in 2.2 Planning Background proximity to the site. Four Bronze Age barrows, two of them destroyed by Archaeological Project Services was quarrying, have also been recorded nearby. commissioned by Harpur Homes Limited 1 Archaeological Project Services ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION ON LAND AT BURLOW ROAD, HARPUR HILL, DERBYSHIRE A possible road and a pottery scatter attest southern part of the site (Figs 3 and 4). to some limited activity during the Roman period (AD 43-410). Two Saxon (AD 410- At each grid point, small shovel test pits 1066) burial mounds have also been typically 0.25m x 0.25m in area to a identified, though there is no known maximum of 0.3m depth, were excavated accompanying settlement of this period. by spade. The soil was broken up and passed through a coarse hand sieve for the During the medieval period (AD 1066- recovery of artefacts. Those test pits that 1540), the site probably lay within open produce artefacts and possible ground, perhaps waste or moor, and does archaeological features were recorded. not appear to have been farmed. Harpur Hill is mentioned early in the post- All test pits were backfilled with the spoil medieval period (AD 1540-1900) and may arising from them immediately after the have been a settlement for quarry workers. soil had been sorted and before moving to The surrounding land was enclosed late in excavate the next test pit, to minimise any the 18 th century and the pattern of fields health and safety risks. remains mostly intact, although it has been affected by later quarrying and railway construction (Archaeological Project 5. RESULTS Services 2014). The results of the archaeological evaluation are discussed below. The 3. AIMS numbers in brackets are the archaeological context numbers assigned in the field The aim of the evaluation was to gather (Appendix 2). information to establish the presence or absence, extent, condition, character, Topsoil recorded across both areas quality and date of any archaeological comprised a greyish brown sandy clay remains in order to enable the Derbyshire (006). Where recorded the underlying Development Control Archaeologist to subsoil was a mid brown sandy clay (007). formulate a policy for the management of Fragments of stone were recorded in both archaeological resources present on the deposits, becoming more frequent toward site. the tops of hills. Archaeological Features 4. METHODS Toward the southwest edge of the north field, close to Burlow Road, a large Shovel Test Pitting enables the retrieval of amount of sub-angular limestone chunks artefacts which, by their date, frequency 7cm-15cm in length was observed at the and distribution, can potentially determine interface between the topsoil and subsoil, the presence/absence, extent, character, at a depth of 20cm below the surface. Test date, and significance of archaeological pits containing the stone deposit were artefact scatters present on the site. enlarged to 40cm x 40cm, but no evidence of a structure was visible. Deposits (001) The shovel test pitting arrangement has and (002) (Fig. 2; Plates 2 and 3) were been specified as based on a 10m grid in recorded as examples of the stone deposit. the northern area, excluding those parts The stones could be natural or related to known to have been quarried and the collapsed dry stone wall separating the backfilled, and on a 20m grid in the field and the road. 2 Archaeological Project Services ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION ON LAND AT BURLOW ROAD, HARPUR HILL, DERBYSHIRE Also in the north field, a deposit of angular No artefacts were recovered from the north limestone gravel was discovered 0.15m field which was subject of a 10m test below the surface (003) (Fig. 2; Plate 5). pitting interval. This test pit was sited over an earthwork, thought to be the remains of a pond visible The test pitting was designed to sample the on 18 th century maps which

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