Mount Pleasant Farm, Darwen Lancashire. Archaeological Assessment report

An archaeological assessment has been undertaken at Mount Pleasant Farm, Bull Hill, Darwen, Lancashire (centred at NGR SD 7035 1965), by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (LUAU), in January 1998, on behalf of Ruttle Plant Hire Ltd. The work was commissioned to comply with a condition of planning consent for the tipping of inert construction waste to improve land for agriculkter, and for improvements to access (Planning Application No. 10/95/1290). The purpose of the assessment was to assemble desk-based evidence for the archaeological and historical potential of the site, and to test this by a site identification survey.

The Lancashire Sites and Monuments Record does not refer to any sites or find spots within the specific area of the development proposal.

The area was enclosed in the eighteenth century and Mount Pleasant Farm was built within an existing field system between 1820 and 1850. The general area was known to have been the subject of coal mining activity since the late eighteenth century, but mining activity within the study area was initiated between 1820 and 1850 and by the end of the century there were six mines, both used and disused, within the area. The principle surface features observed during the identification survey were the mine shafts and their associated spoil mounds.

It is recommended that the shafts be subject to recording by survey in mitigation of the development, and that an archaeological watching brief be undertaken during the topsoil strip.