ALSF AGGREGATE EXTRACTION AND THE GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF THE KIRKHAM MORAINE Final Report Oxford Archaeology North Department of Geography February 2008 English Heritage Issue No: 2007-8/782 OAN Job No: L9870 NGR: SD 420 320 (centred) Document Title: ALSF A GGREGATE EXTRACTION AND THE GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF THE KIRKHAM MORAINE Document Type: Final Report Client Name: English Heritage Issue Number: 2007-8/782 OA Job Number: L9870 Site Code: n/a National Grid Reference: SD 420 320 (centred) Prepared by: Joanne Cook Neil Wearing Position: Project Officer Project Officer Date: 14 th February 2008 Checked by: Jamie Quartermaine Signed……………………. Position: Project Manager Date: 14 th February 2008 Approved by: Rachel Newman Signed……………………. Position: Director Date: 14 th February 2008 Receiving Museum n/a Museum Accession No n/a Oxford Archaeology North © Oxford Archaeological Unit Ltd (2008) Storey Institute Janus House Meeting House Lane Osney Mead Lancaster Oxford LA1 1TF OX2 0EA t: (0044) 01524 848666 t: (0044) 01865 263800 f: (0044) 01524 848606 f: (0044) 01865 793496 w: www.oxfordarch.co.uk e: [email protected] Oxford Archaeological Unit Limited is a Registered Charity No: 285627 Disclaimer: This document has been prepared for the titled project or named part thereof and should not be relied upon or used for any other project without an independent check being carried out as to its suitability and prior written authority of Oxford Archaeology being obtained. Oxford Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability for the consequences of this document being used for a purpose other than the purposes for which it was commissioned. Any person/party using or relying on the document for such other purposes agrees, and will by such use or reliance be taken to confirm their agreement to indemnify Oxford Archaeology for all loss or damage resulting therefrom. Oxford Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability for this document to any party other than the person/party by whom it was commissioned. ALSF Aggregate Extraction and the Geoarchaeological Heritage of the Kirkham Moraine, Lancashire I CONTENTS CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ I LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................IV SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ V 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Kirkham Moraine Study Area............................................................................... 1 1.3 Aims of the Project ............................................................................................... 2 1.4 Objectives.............................................................................................................. 2 1.5 Structure of the Report.......................................................................................... 3 2 BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Geological Background......................................................................................... 5 2.2 Topographical Background................................................................................... 7 2.3 Prehistoric Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Background...................... 8 2.4 Romano-British Archaeology............................................................................. 15 2.5 Early Medieval Archaeology.............................................................................. 17 2.6 Medieval Archaeology........................................................................................ 19 2.7 Post-medieval Archaeology................................................................................ 21 3 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 25 3.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Structural Overview of the GIS........................................................................... 25 3.3 Characterising the Geological and Geomorphological Resource ....................... 27 3.4 Characterising the Natural Landscape as a Heritage Asset................................. 29 3.5 Characterising the Archaeological Resource ...................................................... 30 3.6 Assessing the Minerial Potential......................................................................... 34 3.7 Archaeological Analysis and Assessment of Potential ....................................... 39 4 GEOMORPHOLOGICAL RESULTS ........................................................................ 43 4.1 The Quaternary Period in Lowland Lancashire.................................................. 43 4.2 Assessment of the Sand and Gravel Potential..................................................... 51 5 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE : R ESULTS ......................................................... 55 5.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 55 5.2 Results of the Desk-Based Study........................................................................ 55 5.3 The Distribution of Monuments in the Kirkham Area........................................ 59 5.4 Preliminary Analysis and Enhancement of the Archaeological Dataset............. 63 5.5 Enhancement of the HLC.................................................................................... 64 5.6 Analysis and Spatial Patterning of the Archaeology........................................... 67 5.7 Characterisation and Incorporation of Geomorphology ..................................... 68 5.8 Conclusions......................................................................................................... 70 For the use of English Heritage © OA North and University of Liverpool February 2008 II ALSF Aggregate Extraction and the Geoarchaeological Heritage of the Kirkham Moraine 6 AGGREGATE PROSPECT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL ......................... 73 6.1 Aggregate Prospects............................................................................................ 73 6.2 Archaeological Potential..................................................................................... 73 7 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 77 7.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 77 7.2 Further Work on the Sand and Gravel Resources............................................... 78 7.3 Future Environmental and Geomorphological Research .................................... 80 7.4 Archaeological Investigation .............................................................................. 82 7.5 Management Recommendations......................................................................... 87 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 89 APPENDIX 1: S UMMARY GAZETTEER OF PROJECT DATABASE ...................................... 99 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 119 For the use of English Heritage © OA North and University of Liverpool February 2008 ALSF Aggregate Extraction and the Geoarchaeological Heritage of the Kirkham Moraine, Lancashire III LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Datasets included in the Ribble Valley ALSF project geodatabase.................27 Table 2: Sediment landform assemblages of the Kirkham Moraine and Fylde deglacial terrain ................................................................................................44 Table 3: Mineral volumes expressed as total estimated sand and gravel for the workable Resource Blocks identified on Figure 24 .........................................53 Table 4: Environmental constraints for the workable Resource Blocks identified on Figure 24......................................................................................................54 Table 5: Breakdown of new monuments sourced from historic maps ...........................55 Table 6: Breakdown of HER Monument records by period...........................................56 Table 7: Breakdown of Listed Building records by period ............................................56 Table 8: Breakdown of North West Wetlands Survey records by period ......................56 Table 9: Breakdown of Ribble Valley Rapid Identification Survey records by period .56 Table 10: Breakdown of Grey Literature Search records by Type...................................57 Table 11: Breakdown of monuments sourced from LiDAR, aerial photographic mapping and historic maps, by period..............................................................57 Table 12: Breakdown of all monuments by period and NMR Class................................59 Table 13: Breakdown