DESK-BASED HERITAGE ASSESSMENT IN CONNECTION WITH A PROPOSED ENERGY RESERVE FACILITY AT LAND TO THE EAST OF WATERSWALLOWS INDUSTRIAL PARK, WATERSWALLOWS, DERBYSHIRE September 2017 Our Ref: JAC23653 RPS Suite D10, Josephs Well, Hanover Walk Leeds LS3 1AB Tel: 0113 2206190 Email: [email protected] rpsgroup.com QUALITY MANAGEMENT Prepared by: Dan Slatcher Authorised by: Andrew Stevenson Date: September 2017 Project Number/Document JAC23653/ “Waterswallows” STOR 119 Ltd/ REV0 Reference: COPYRIGHT © RPS The material presented in this report is confidential. This report has been prepared for the exclusive use of STOR119 Ltd and shall not be distributed or made available to any other company or person without the knowledge and written consent of RPS. rpsgroup.com CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Site Description ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Scheme Description ................................................................................................................................ 2 Designed-in Mitigation ............................................................................................................................. 3 Project Aim .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Project Archive ........................................................................................................................................ 3 2 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................... 4 3 PLANNING CONTEXT ........................................................................................................................... 7 4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORIC BACKGROUND ..................................................................... 10 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 10 5 ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL .......................................................................................................... 13 6 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................... 14 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 15 Published ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Unpublished ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Published Maps ..................................................................................................................................... 15 FIGURES ......................................................................................................................................................... 16 APPENDIX 1: HER ENTRIES (SUPPLIED BY DERBYSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGY SERVICE) ...................... 17 APPENDIX 2: HISTORIC MAPS (SUPPLIED BY LANDMARK MAPPING) ................................................. 18 LIST OF FIGURES: Figure 1: Site Location and HER Data Figure 2: Designated Assets within 1km of Proposed Development Figure 3: Historic Landscape Character rpsgroup.com EXECUTIVE SUMMARY RPS Planning and Development was commissioned to produce a heritage assessment in connection with a proposed energy reserve facility at a site to the east of Waterswallows Industrial Park, Waterswallows Road, Buxton, in Derbyshire. The facility would generate electricity during peak periods of demand (limited to a few hours per week) although the specific level of output would vary according to local demand. The proposal site is located some 3km northeast of Buxton Railway Station and 900m southeast of the centre of Upper End, on the north side of Waterswallows Road at its junction with Hardybarn Lane. The proposal site is centred on National Grid Reference SK 085 752. The proposal site is bounded to the west by the Waterswallows Recycling Centre, to the north and east by farmland and to the south by Waterswallows Road and Waterswallows Quarry. The proposal site lies at an altitude of approximately 345m AOD and covers some 0.34ha. The proposal site currently comprises part of two grass fields, the southern being the sire of a former farmhouse. Both fields were being grazed by sheep at the time of the site visit in September 2017. A small concrete block building is located on the eastern boundary of the southern field, outside the proposal site. The geology of the proposal site comprises limestone of the Low Limestone Formation. To the northwest of the proposal site the solid geology comprises lava of the Lower Miller’s Dale Lava Member, with an unnamed igneous intrusion to the south. No superficial deposits are recorded. This study has revealed that there are no designated sites (e.g. scheduled monuments, listed buildings) within the proposal site. The closest designated assets are the scheduled monuments located some 1.9km northeast of the proposal site. Neither these nor any other scheduled monuments, listed buildings, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields or conservation areas nor their settings would be affected by the proposed development. There are no recorded remains of confirmed prehistoric date within or in the immediate vicinity of the proposed development area, although those Mesolithic and later remains located nearby at the Buxton Water Bottling Works on Waterswallows Lane are significant. Later development within the proposal site may have damaged any remains here. The line of a Roman road runs within 1km of the proposal site. The proposal site lay within the hinterland of Buxton during the Roman period. There are few sites or finds of medieval date in the vicinity of the proposal site. Later mapping indicates that the wider area was probably part of a common grazing field during the later medieval period. There is no evidence for medieval settlement activity within the proposed development area. The proposal site itself is named as Hardybarn Farm, with Hardybarn marked at the crossroads with Longridge Road to the east of the proposal site on the first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) six-inch to the mile map of 1882. The farm buildings are shown as being located in the southern field of the proposal site and had been demolished by 1999 according to Google Earth. There is no recorded evidence for activity, other than use as agricultural land over the proposal site until the 19th century when parts of it were used as a farm. The farm within the proposal site was demolished by 1999. There is no evidence for the proposed development area to contain below ground remains of the highest significance, or of sufficient significance to warrant preservation in situ. 1 rpsgroup.com 1 INTRODUCTION Background 1.1 RPS Planning and Development was commissioned to produce a heritage assessment in connection with a proposed energy reserve facility at a site to the east of Waterswallows Industrial Park, Waterswallows Road, Buxton, in Derbyshire. 1.2 The facility would generate electricity during peak periods of demand (limited to a few hours per week) although the specific level of output would vary according to local demand. Site Description 1.3 The proposed development area is located some 3km northeast of Buxton Railway Station and 900m southeast of the centre of Upper End, on the north side of Waterswallows Road at its junction with Hardybarn Lane and immediately east of Waterswallows Industrial Park. The proposal site is centred on National Grid Reference SK 085 752. 1.4 The proposal site is bounded to the west by the Waterswallows Recycling Centre, to the north and east by farmland and to the south by a drystone wall, a wooded area, Waterswallows Road and Waterswallows Quarry on the south side of Waterswallows Road. The proposal site lies at an altitude of approximately 345m AOD and covers some 0.34ha. 1.5 The proposal site currently comprises part of two grass fields, the southern being the sire of a former farmhouse. Booth fields were being grazed by sheep at the time of the site visit in September 2017. A small concrete block building is located on the eastern boundary of the southern field, outside the proposal site. 1.6 The geology of the proposal site comprises limestone of the Low Limestone Formation. To the northwest of the proposal site the solid geology comprises lava of the Lower Miller’s Dale Lava Member, with an unnamed igneous intrusion to the south. No superficial deposits are recorded (http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html). Scheme Description 1.7 The proposal comprises an Energy Reserve Facility including a small scale gas-fired energy generation facility with a capacity of approximately 20 MW in order to support the provision of local power during peak periods: 1.8 The main components of the scheme include: . 5 containerised engine units; . 5 emission stacks 8m in height (i.e. 3.3m above the containers)