Blackburn Concessionary Supplies,Briercliffe, Lancashire. Historical research and Walkover Survey.

United Utilities propose the installation of a concessionary supplies water pipeline on agricultural land to the west of Extwistle Moor, in Briercliffe (SJ 89000 34330, central
point). The landscape around the proposed pipeline is extremely rich in terms of the density of significant sites of archaeological interest, with numerous prehistoric
monuments and settlements of prehistoric or Romano-British date having been identified. Four such sites, all of which are Scheduled Monuments, lie within 100m of the proposed pipeline routes. As a result of the potential for negative impacts upon sites of archaeological interest during the works associated with the pipeline, the Planning Archaeologist at Lancashire County Archaeological Service (LCAS) advised that a programme of archaeological work should be undertaken. United Utilities subsequently commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) to undertake historical and archaeological research and a walkover survey of the immediate environs of the proposed pipeline.
The historic research enabled the compilation of a gazetteer of 22 sites of archaeological interest. Nine of these (Sites 01-09) were listed in the Lancashire Historic Environment Record (HER), five sites were identified during an aerial
photographic inspection (Sites 10-13 and 22), and eight sites were identified during the walkover survey (Sites 14-21). All of the sites are likely to date to either the
prehistoric, Romano-British, medieval, post-medieval, or industrial periods.