Teal Cottage, Arkholme, Lancashire. Archaeological Watching Brief.

Following an application for planning permission for the extension of Teal Cottage, Main Street, Arkholme, Lancashire (SD 5882 7179), a brief was issued for an archaeological watching brief by Lancashire County Archaeology Service. Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned to undertake the watching brief during the excavation of the groundworks for the extension, which took place in May 2004.
The groundworks were undertaken by a tracked excavator and comprised an initial topsoil strip, followed by a ground reduction and, finally, the excavation of foundation
trenches for the new building. The topsoil strip was not undertaken to sufficient depth to allow the observation of any archaeological features and, although the ground
reduction works did reveal the underlying natural geology across some areas of the site, no archaeological features were observed. The foundation trenches were excavated to a depth of c 1m into the natural geology, with no archaeological features observed.
No archaeological features or artefacts were revealed during the course of the
groundworks, although a relatively high level of modern disturbance, relating predominantly to drainage, was observed across parts of the site.