Park End Farm, Brigsteer, Cumbria: Palaeoenvironmental Auger Survey

Following proposals for a raised water level management plan at a site adjacent to Park End Farm (Fig 1), the National Trust requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertake a palaeoenvironmental auger survey of the proposed development area.

In total, 63 individual auger locations were surveyed within the areas of “deep dig” and across a potential palaeochannel. The cores were taken with a hand-held Eiijkelkamp screw auger and a 30mm bore hand-held Eiijkelkamp gouge auger to a maximum depth of 3m or to the point where underlying stiff clay was reached.

The auger survey has shown that most of the site comprises topsoil underlain by clay. Only three small pockets of thin remnant peat were observed, all within the southern end of the development site. The deposits are considered too thin to provide any substantial palaeoenvironmental history of the area.