Proposed Wind farm at Carsington, Derbyshire. Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Rapid Visual Inspection.

Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by West Coast Energy Ltd to undertake an archaeological desk-based assessment and rapid visual inspection of the proposed development area for a wind farm at Carsington, near Matlock, Derbyshire (NGR 424824, 354269).
The assessment, undertaken in January 2006, covered a radius of 1km from the centre of the proposed development site and included visits to the Derbyshire Sites and Monuments Record, the County Record Office and the Local Studies Library, all in Matlock. Four sites with statutory designation were identified: Carsington Pasture
round barrow (Site 01), St Margarets Church (Site 06), Hopton Incline Windmill (Site 15), and the Carsington and Hopton Conservation Area (Site 31), within which were a
further 14 Listed Buildings.
The majority of the proposed development site consists of unenclosed and undeveloped pasture which is thought to hold considerable archaeological potential.
Exploitation of the extensive mineral veins in the area has resulted in a concentration of disused mine-shafts across the site (Site 03); most of these are thought to date from
the seventeenth century onwards although documentary evidence suggests that mining has been undertaken on the site from at least the medieval period, and evidence for
early workings may survive. Predating this industrial landscape, a series of linear banks and low, earthfast walls may represent a Romano-British field system (Site 02).
If proven, these may be associated with the settlement found on the site of Carsington Reservoir, thought to be the site of Lutudarum, the administrative centre of the Romano-British lead mining industry.