Town And Lawson's Farms, Golborne, Greater Manchester. Archaeological Evaluation, Excavation, and Watching Brief.

Wainhomes (North West) Ltd submitted a planning application for a residential development to include the restoration of two listed buildings and a barn, and the erection of 52 new build properties at Town Farm, Golborne (NGR SJ 6035 9715). In response to this, Greater Manchester Archaeology Unit (GMAU) imposed a planning condition on the development to investigate the archaeological remains identified during an historic building survey undertaken by the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit (UMAU 2003). Following the recommendations of this report, Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned to undertake an archaeological
evaluation of the northern half of the site, where the proposed development may impact on the archaeological remains. Any existing archaeological deposits on the southern half would be protected by raising the levels with made ground. In order to assess these remains, seven evaluation trenches were positioned on structures identified through map regression analysis of eighteenth and nineteenth century maps (ibid).
The evaluation showed extensive modern disturbance across much of the northern half of the development site from the construction phase of recently demolished buildings.
However, two areas of archaeological potential were highlighted. These were examined further, in accordance with recommendations made by GMAU, by open area excavation in order to mitigate the remains prior to the development. Additional areas across the northern and central parts of the site were mitigated by permanent presence watching brief. This report details the results of the evaluation, the resulting excavation and the watching brief.