Philips Park House, Prestwich, Greater Manchester- Evaluation

In July and August 2008, Oxford Archaeology North carried out a programme of archaeological evaluation of a nineteenth-century estate house, known as The Park, in Philips Park, Prestwich (centred on SD 7975 0390). The evaluation was commissioned by Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, to establish the presence or absence of any buried remains of the house, to support a plan to restore the park. In particular, the evaluation was intended to inform future proposals for the public interpretation of the site. The evaluation comprised the excavation of 10 targeted trenches, with a combined total length of 117m, in accordance with a project brief devised by the County Archaeologist for Greater Manchester. In addition, an area to the south-west of the house was cleared of undergrowth in an attempt to locate the remains of a former ice house.
The site of The Park lies within an area of known archaeological potential, and occupies part of a medieval estate owned by the Pilkington family, with a deer park being created in the late thirteenth century. Part of the estate was purchased in 1799 by Robert Philips, a wealthy local merchant and manufacturer. In c 1818, Philips erected his first estate house, which was subject to a major refurbishment in the early 1830s. The Philips family continued to occupy the house until 1946, and the estate was acquired in 1948 by Prestwich and Whitefield Councils; The Park was demolished shortly afterwards, and the site levelled.
The results obtained from the archaeological evaluation have confirmed that substantial remains of The Park survive buried immediately beneath the modern ground surface. These remains include the foundations of the building, together with a series of connected cellars, the form, layout and extent of which was previously uncertain. The buried remains of The Park were demonstrated to be well-preserved, offering considerable potential for future public interpretation associated with a wider scheme of restoration of Philips Park.