Former CEMEX Cement Works, Haslingfield Road, Barrington

This archaeological desk-based assessment was commissioned by Campbell Reith Hill LLP (CampbellReith) to form a baseline document for a cultural heritage chapter within an Environmental Statement for a proposed redevelopment of the former CEMEX cement works and quarries at Barrington, Cambridgeshire.
The desk-based assessment has demonstrated that the Site lies within a landscape of known above and below ground heritage assets. Previous archaeological investigations (notably RPS 2005; Dickens et al. 2006) listed in the Cambridgeshire Heritage Environment Record (CHER) search have shown that below-ground archaeological remains spanning the prehistoric to post-medieval periods are present within the farmland surrounding the quarry and former CEMEX cement works. There are no Scheduled Monuments, Listed Buildings or other statutory designations within the boundaries of the Site, however there is a surviving earthwork, in the form of a moat of medieval or later date, to the north of Barrington Hall within the Application Site. Information gleaned from historic maps, Listed Buildings and the HER also indicates that there are buildings of historic and/or architectural interest near to the Site, the setting of which may be affected by the Proposed Development.
Within the Application Site three distinct areas or zones have been identified, based on previous and proposed land-use. Given the nature of the Application Site, the survival of archaeological remains across much of the former CEMEX cement works (described as Previously Developed Land (Zone 1)) and the former quarries (Zone 2) is likely to be limited. The assessment has indicated, however, that there is some potential for below-ground archaeological deposits to survive within the northern and south/central parts of Zone 1 where it seems that there has been no previous quarrying or extensive buildings associated with the former CEMEX cement works. The swathe of land forming the south-western edge of the Application Site (adjacent to Zone 2 and within Zone 3) may also have some potential for below ground survival. If present, these may date from the prehistoric, Roman, medieval and/or post-medieval periods, given the nearby presence of a Bronze Age ring-ditch, Roman settlement/boundary features and medieval to post-medieval furrows and ditched boundaries within the adjacent arable fields.
Above-ground remains include the tracks associated with the disused Mineral Railway and a water-filled moat; the presence of the latter may indicate that other remains of medieval or later date (possibly associated with the former landscape gardens of Barrington Hall) may survive within the southern, wooded part of Zone 3. The levels of impact across the three zones will be different depending on the nature of the previous land-use combined with the various design elements of the Proposed Development, which include residential dwellings in addition to formal and informal open spaces. The proposed location for a new car park and access road within Zone 3 close to Haslingfield Road is likely to have an impact on the medieval or later moat, both in terms of below-ground impact and visual setting.
Most, if not all, of the former CEMEX cement works buildings post-date the 1960s and so do not relate to the early industrial use of the Application Site.