Freckleten Rising Main, Lancashire. Watching Brief Report.

Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by United Utilities Ltd to undertake an archaeological watching brief during the construction of a pipeline covering just under 2km. This scheme ran from the eastern side of Freckleton (SD 343960 429480) to the Clifton Marsh wastewater treatment works (SD 345690 428380). The work was undertaken between July and October 2002 and consisted of
a topsoil strip, followed by the excavation a number of the trenches for the pipeline.
A number of modern features, relating to recent land usage, were uncovered and a large flood defence bank was truncated, but unfortunately, no artefactual evidence
was recovered from the bank. Beyond this bank no significant archaeological evidence relating to land reclamation or any other activity was uncovered. The nature of the deposits exposed during the course of the trench excavation indicate
the estuarine nature of this land before reclamation. No new evidence was to show how recently this reclamation may have occurred, and the lack of archaeological evidence may suggest that this took place relatively recently.