West Lakes Academy, Wyndham School, Egremont, Cumbria, Archaeological Desk-Based assessment

Wyndham School in Egremont, Cumbria (NGR NY 0100 1095) is proposed to be replaced by the West Lakes Academy. The existing school is located off the west side of Main Street, and has a sports field to the west of the school buildings. The school consists mainly of typical 1960s buildings, and an early twentieth century building, which was the original school and is now used as a library. The project is at the preplanning stage and a desk-based assessment is therefore necessary to inform the planning process and whether there is a requirement for any further archaeological work prior to the submission of the planning application. Capita Symonds commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) to undertake the work, which was carried out in December 2008/January 2009.

The desk-based assessment comprised a search of both published and unpublished records held by the Cumbria Historic Environment Record (HER) in Kendal, the Cumbria Record Office in Carlisle, and the archives and library held at OA North. In addition to this, a site visit was carried out in order to relate the landscape and surroundings to the results of the desk-based assessment.

Thirty-seven sites have been identified within the study area, 25 of which (Sites 01-09, 13 and 22-36) were identified from the HER and the remaining 12 (Sites 10-12, 14-21 and 37) were identified during the map regression and desk-based research. Twelve sites were Grade II Listed Buildings (Sites 13 and 22-32), and one site (Site 05) was a Grade I Listed Building and a Scheduled Monument.