Dearnley Old Hall, Dearnley, Rochdale, Greater Manchester Archaeological Evaluation Report

Oxford Archaeology (OA) North was commissioned by Keystone Estates to undertake an archaeological evaluation on the site of a proposed residential development at Dearnley Old Hall, Dearnley, Rochdale, Greater Manchester (Fig 1, NGR: SD 92195 15792). Although the Local Planning Authority had not
set a brief for the work, discussions with Andrew Myers and Norman Redhead of Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service (GMAAS) established the required scope of work. OA North were then subsequently commissioned by Keystone Estates to produce a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI)
detailing the proposed scheme of works. The evaluation fieldwork was undertaken on 17th December 2019.
Three evaluation trenches were excavated, which revealed that the site had been heavily disturbed by previous construction and demolition of known outbuildings, detailed on historic mapping. It was apparent that the demolition material from this had been used as a levelling layer and had been capped by a concrete slab. Only Trench 1 contained archaeological features, four poorly preserved wall footings and a stone-capped drain.