Land off Oxenholme Road, Kendal: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Walkover Survey

Following a proposal by Oakmere Homes to develop land to the western side of Oxenholme Road, Kendal (SD 52704 90376), an archaeological desk-based assessment was recommended by the development control officer at Cumbria Historic Environment Service (CHES). Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) were subsequently commissioned to undertake the desk-based assessment and walkover survey by Harrison Pitt Architects, on behalf of Oakmere Homes.
Until the later twentieth century the character of the local area was dominated by agriculture, with dispersed farmsteads and field systems that appear to pre-date the widespread enclosures of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries characterising this part of Natland. Deer parks dating to the medieval and post-medieval periods are known to have been present in Natland, Kendal, and Oxenholme and field names indicative of such parks occur immediately to the north of the proposed development area (Site 01). It is not known, however, whether these field names refer to one or more of the known local deer parks, or might indicate a previously unidentified park in the vicinity of the study area.