2 Church Street, Ribchester, Lancashire- Watching Brief

Following a request by Mr Michael Kerrigan, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertook an archaeological watching brief at the domestic dwelling of 2 Church Street, Ribchester, Lancashire (SD 6500 3511). The work was required as a condition on the granting of planning consent for a rear two-storey extension (Planning Application No 3/2006/0428/B), for which purpose foundation trenches (Trench 1) and a posthole (Trench 2) to accommodate the repositioning of a telegraph pole will be undertaken. Lancashire County Archaeology Service (LCAS) advised the local planning authority that an archaeological watching brief of the groundworks was required due to the high archaeological potential of the area. OA North was commissioned to undertake the work in July 2006.
Excavation was undertaken manually with spades and shovels. Trench 1 was the main foundation trench for the extension, for the insertion of an external glass back wall, and was aligned north-west/south-east, between an earlier extension and the side of the adjoining property (1 Church Street) to the south-east, parallel to the existing rear building wall. The trench measured 3.5m in length and was 0.6m wide, and the exposed stratigraphy showed a sequence of layers down to an average depth of 1.1m.