The Avenue, Eaglescliffe, Stockton On Tees, Co Durham- Watching Brief

In 2004, McCarthy and Stone Developments (MSD) submitted a planning application to Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council for a residential development at The Avenue, Eaglescliffe, County Durham (NZ 4328 1515). The development site encompasses the embankment of the historic Stockton to Darlington Railway, built in 1825 and decommissioned in 1852. Accordingly, as a condition of the planning consent for the development (05/1194/FUL), the Teeside Archaeological Officer requested that an archaeological watching brief be maintained during groundworks for a carpark in the western part of the development site. Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by CgMs Consulting, on behalf of MSD, to undertake the programme of monitoring, which took place on 2nd October, 2007.
The monitored groundworks comprised the mechanical excavation of a single trench measuring 36.4m north/south by 4.4m and between 0.28m and 0.85m deep. The majority of works involved the removal of the topsoil only, although a small area of deeper excavation was undertaken at the northern end of the trench. Excavation within the western half of the trench revealed evidence of the railway embankment, formed from redeposited boulder clay. During the twentieth century, the land of the development site had been levelled through the addition of rubble and waste material, and there was evidence that removal of such material has the potential to reveal further elements of the well-preserved embankment running eastward. Similarly, it is likely that the embankment is also well-preserved to the west.