Surface Mining and Reclamation Facility, Cutacre, Wigan, Greater Manchester. Archaeological Investigation.

A planning application and Environmental Statement was submitted by UK Coal Mining Ltd to develop a surface mining and tip reclamation facility (Application No. APP/N4205/A/97/289386). The development area is sited to the north-west of Atherton and to the south-east of Kearsley (NGR centred SD 6980 0404), and is divided between the three metropolitan boroughs of Salford, Bolton and Wigan. Planning consent has been granted with a condition to undertake an archaeological investigation prior to development in order that a suitable mitigation strategy can be implemented regarding any archaeological remains. A desk-based assessment of the development area had previously been undertaken by the University of Manchester Archaeology Unit (UMAU 1996) during the planning application process, which showed the development area to have a high archaeological potential. RPS, acting as consultants for UK Coal Mining
Ltd, compiled a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI; RPS 2005) for the archaeological investigation in consultation with the Assistant County Archaeologist of the Greater Manchester Archaeology Unit (GMAU). This incorporated the information from this earlier study (ibid) and detailed the required programme of evaluation work, to include a mining study, geophysical survey and trial trenching. Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned to commence this second phase of work in December 2005.