Bispham Campus,Blackpool and the Fylde College, Lancashire. Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment

The study area for the desk-based assessment comprises an area 500m in radius centred on the proposed development. The desk-based assessment comprised a search of both published and unpublished records held by the Lancashire Historic
Environment Record (HER), the Lancashire Record Office, Preston, and the archives and library held at OA North. In addition to this, a site visit was carried out within the
boundary of the proposed development, in order to relate the landscape and surroundings to the results of the desk-based assessment, and identify any additional features that would not be procured solely from documentary sources.
Whilst there is considerable evidence for prehistoric activity on The Fylde, the environs of the study area have not yet yielded any sites or finds from this period. Similarly, there are no known Roman sites within the study area. The earliest archaeological evidence within the study area is represented by All Hallows Church (Site 01), which contains twelfth century masonry within its current building, and a nearby Medieval holy well (Site 03). The post-medieval period is represented by an early eighteenth century sundial (Site 01) also at All Hallows Church, and earthworks towards the south-east extent of the study area comprising two areas of ridge and furrow (Sites 05 and 06), and a boundary and drain (Site 07). A former Sunday school
(Site 08), towards the south-west extent of the study area, dates to the industrial period, as do two former buildings, Old Ryscar House (Site 04) and Higham or High Holme (Site 10). Also first noted on nineteenth century maps, and therefore assumed industrial period sites, are two pits (Sites 09 and 11) likely to be the result of marl extraction for fertilising fields.