25 Aytoun Street, Piccadilly, Manchester - Watching Brief

During September 2014, Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by McAleer & Rushe Contracts UK Ltd to maintain an archaeological watching brief at 25 Aytoun Street (centred on NGR 384565 398060) in the Piccadilly area of central Manchester. The watching brief was required to fulfil a condition attached to planning consent for the development of a new hotel (Application No 103945/FO/2013/C21).
An archaeological desk-based assessment of the site that was produced to support the planning application concluded that the site had some potential to retain buried remains of regional and local significance that would be damaged or destroyed by the proposed development. These remains include a large town house that was erected in the northern corner of the study area in 1815-7 and demolished in 1920-1, and a small rectangular building associated with a former timber yard that had been built by 1824