Proposed Pipeline, Vyrnwy LDTM, Old Marton, Shropshire. Rapid Archaeological Desk-based Research and Walkover Survey.

United Utilities have proposed to construct a 2km pipeline and three compounds through pastoral fields near the farm of Old Marton Hall, Whittington, Shropshire (NGR SJ 33911 33328 to SJ35439 34575, Fig 1). Both the pipeline and compounds
will require extensive groundworks. Following recommendations made by Shropshire County Council Historic Environment Countryside Advisor, United Utilities commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) to undertake rapid archaeological desk-based research and a walkover survey of the proposed development.
Aside from two Listed Buildings, the Old Hall and its barn (Sites 21 and 22) at Old Marton, no sites of archaeological interest were identified after consultation with the
Shropshire County Council Historic Environment Record (SCCHER). Four sites were identified during the assessment of historic maps and documents, which were compiled into a Gazetteer (Section 5; Fig 2). Two sites in the study area, a pond and a stone (Sites 01 and 03), were of unknown date. The third site, an old sand pit, possibly dated to the post-medieval period (Site 02) and the fourth, a pipeline, to the
Industrial Period (Site 04). Of the four sites, two could be directly affected by the pipeline development. Site 01, a pond, was identified on the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey (1874) and is still extant, and Site 04, is the putative line of the Vyrnwy Aqueduct. Its intended route was depicted on the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks map of 1880, and the 1902 and 1929 versions of the Ordnance Survey
(Fig 5). Assessment of aerial photography, however, does not reveal any obvious earthworks along the possible route (Plate 1).