Abbots Wood Furness Abbey, Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria- Watching Brief

In 2006 Capita Symonds submitted proposals for a development at Abbots Wood, Furness Abbey (SM 13572), Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria (SD 219 720; planning reference 6/06/9004). The scheme was to involve the construction of a small carpark off Manor Road, just to the south-west of South Lodge, and the repairing of existing footpaths within Abbotts Wood. As the development lies within the Furness Abbey Scheduled Area, English Heritage requested that all groundworks within the scheduled area should be subject to archaeological monitoring. Following submission of a project design which was approved by English Heritage, Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by Capita Symonds to undertake the watching brief during September 2006.
The monitored excavation area for the disabled carpark was approximately 23m east/west by 6m, encroaching upon Abbotts Wood to the north by 4m. The groundworks involved the removal of the southern boundary wall, together with the topsoil and subsoil down to a depth of 0.3m below the existing road surface, revealing the intermittent remains of a south-east aligned levelled drystone wall. No dating evidence was associated with this wall, although the fact that it incorporated several pieces of worked red sandstone, most likely to have derived from the post-dissolution robbing of the abbey structure itself, dates it to the post-medieval period. The wall may have been a boundary feature between the grounds of South Lodge and Abbotts Wood.
Renovation of the footpaths running through the Scheduled Area within Abbotts Wood involved the scraping off of recent vegetation and detritus from the path surfaces. No archaeological features, finds or horizons were observed during monitoring of this process.