Land Adjacent to West Coast Mainline, Great Strickland, Penrith- Desk-based Assessment, Visual Inspection and Evaluation

Following a proposal by Network Rail (West Coast) for the erection of an autotransformer (Planning Application Number 3/04/0812) on land adjacent to the West Coast Mainline, Great Strickland (NY 55010 22750), Cumbria County Council Historic Environment Service (CCCHES) were consulted by Eden District Council regarding the application. In response, CCCHES issued a brief for a programme of archaeological work, specifying a rapid desk-based assessment, visual inspection, metal detector survey and an evaluation. Upon acceptance of a project design formulated to meet the CCCHES brief, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) were commissioned by Network Rail (West Coast) to undertake the programme of work.
The desk-based assessment, comprising a search of both published and unpublished records held by the Cumbria Historic Environment Record (CHER), Kendal, the Cumbria County Record Office, Kendal, and the archives and library held at OA North, was undertaken in May 2005 and identified 18 sites of archaeological interest within the 500m radius of the study area. Sites 01-15 were recorded on the CHER and three sites (Sites 16-18) were identified through map regression analysis. These sites included a Bronze Age cairn that contained 13 cremations (Site 01); a cropmark of possible Romano-British/Iron Age origin (Site 02); two hoards of Roman coins (Sites 04 and 15), along with two further findspots associated with Site 15: a bracelet (site 13) and a mount (Site 14). Other sites included two hazard areas, one for the Village of Great Strickland (Site 10), and one for a possible medieval settlement south of Hackthorpe Hall (Site 03); a tile works and associated tramway (Site 05); two quarries (Sites 08 and 11); a mill (Site 09); a road (Site 16); a well (Site 17); a guide post (Site 18); an undated potential settlement (Site 06); and two undated lynchets (Sites 07 and 12).