Croston Flood Relief Management Scheme Croston, Lancashire. Archaeological Evaluation.

Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by Volker Stevin, acting on behalf of the Environment Agency, to undertake an archaeological evaluation along a section of the River Yarrow in advance of the development of a flood
elevation scheme for the village of Croston in West Lancashire. The study area comprises land approximately 575m in length, extending between Roemoor Farm in the north (NGR 352162, 418521), Plump Farm to the south-west (NGR 352163,
417683) and Bradley Hall to the south-east (NGR 352744, 417825). The work comprised the excavation of 22 trenches, which followed on from archaeological monitoring of geotechnical boreholes and test pits in 2013 and 2014.
The wider peat bogs or ‘mosses’ of the Lancashire Plain have been the subject of comprehensive archaeological, palaeoecological and geomorphological survey previously. This research identified the potential of the mosses to mask archaeological activity, in particular relating to the prehistoric exploitation of the wetlands from the
Mesolithic period onwards. This activity is thought to probably focus upon the many sandy islands that would have existed within the undulating land of the wetlands,
which would have provided a secure base for the exploitation of the surrounding wetland resources, and are gradually emerging from below the retreating peat deposits. In contrast, later historical activity was identified as predominantly focusing upon the edge of the wetland areas, as represented by several Roman coin hoards and evidence for medieval and post-medieval agriculture.