Mains Lane, Skippool, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire- Evaluation

Information is being collated for the purpose of a planning application for a proposed development for offices across a plot of land adjacent to Mains Lane, Skippool in Poulton-le-Fylde Lancashire (NGR SD 3575 4060). Wilkinson Cary Planning requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) submit proposals to undertake a programme of archaeological work in accordance with a formal brief provided by Lancashire County Archaeology Service (LCAS). Subsequently, OA North was commissioned by Wilkinson Cary Planning to carry out the work, which was undertaken in March 2008.
The site of the proposed development has produced evidence of prehistoric activity, in the form of a number of sherds of Bronze Age pottery found during excavation of a sewage outfall in 1928. In addition, the Lytham – Skippool valley, followed by the line of the Main Drain in the Skippool area, has produced finds of scatters of flint artefacts and working debris more recently. The Skippool area is also recorded as being a river port of local importance in the early eighteenth century. Other activity around this time included extensive peat cutting across the Fylde, aided by construction of the Main Dyke which acted as a drain channelling water into the River Wyre. The dyke passes through the eastern side of the site. The damp nature of the site also suggested that there was high potential for waterlogged archaeological deposits which could possibly pertain to remains of considerable antiquity.