Kingsway Bus Depot, Lancaster. Archaeological Building Investigation.

Prior to the redevelopment of the site of the former Kingsway Bus Depot (part of the redevelopment of the Kingsway Baths and Bridge Houses), Parliament Street,
Lancaster (SD 4810 6225) by Liberty Properties Plc, a programme of archaeological recording was requested by the Lancashire County Archaeological Service (LCAS).
This was to comprise of a Level III-type survey of the standing building, accompanied by background research into the site, which would enhance an earlier study undertaken in 1999 (LUAU 1999).
The background research revealed that the Bridge Houses were built as part of the
construction of the New Bridge (now Skerton Bridge) over the River Lune. They are thought to have been built by the architect Thomas Harrison in c1787, although there
is only circumstantial evidence for this, and were used as a tollhouse and inn from the end of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth. After this point they
were used primarily as private houses for wealthy local families until the beginning of the twentieth century. During the early twentieth century increased road traffic and the construction of a neighbouring railway made the area less popular and by the later part of the twentieth century the Bridge Houses were in a poor condition.