Sharoe Green Hospital, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire. Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment.

This desk-based assessment has been prepared by Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) for Kingsfold Developments in accordance with a verbal brief from Lancashire County Archaeological Service (LCAS) in response to Kingsfold Developments’ proposed development of the former Sharoe Green Hospital, Fulwood, Preston (NGR SD 53930 31640; Planning Reference 064/2005/0182). The purpose of the report is to highlight the historical and archaeological potential of the 3.74ha site and its environs.
The site plot is immediately to the north of the New Preston Union Workhouse, but includes the nineteenth-century complex of hospital buildings attached to the workhouse, and which subsequently became the core of the Sharoe Green Hospital. It is also in proximity to the probable junction of two Roman roads and the field of the 1648 Civil War Battle of Preston.
The assessment was researched and written in July 2006 and included visits to the development site and to research facilities in Preston, comprising the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR), the Lancashire County Record Office (LRO), and the Harris Library; OA North’s own extensive library in Lancaster was also consulted. In total, 62 sites were identified within a 1km search radius, centred on the workhouse. A range of site-types and periods is represented and these sites have been assessed for their archaeological significance in accordance with the criteria laid out in Annex 4 of Planning Policy Guidance 16 (PPG 16; DoE 1990).