Wilburn Street Basin, Ordsall Lane, Salford - Desk-based Assessment

Renaker has submitted a planning application (Ref: 14/64851/FUL) for the
redevelopment of land situated off Wilburn Street in Salford (centred on NGR 382655
397880). The development proposals allow for the erection of 491 dwellings in a total
of four buildings ranging in height from eight to 21 storeys, with space for
commercial and retail purposes and associated car parking and landscaping. In order
to facilitate the planning process, Renaker commissioned Oxford Archaeology North
(OA North) to carry out an archaeological desk-based of the Site Area to provide an
informed basis regarding the significance of any buried archaeological remains within
the site. This comprised a desk-based study, coupled with archaeological monitoring
during the excavation of a small number of geo-technical trial pits.
In total, 49 heritage assets have been identified in the wider study area, of which eight
lie within the boundary of the Site Area. With the exception of Woden’s Ford across
the River Irwell, all of the sites identified within the study area derived from the
industrial development of Salford during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In
particular, the study area became a focus for the textile-finishing industry, with
numerous dye works becoming established along the banks of the River Irwell. Whilst
most of these works were situated on the Manchester side of the river, the footprint of
part of the Oldfield Dye Works lies within the boundary of the Site Area. This was
established in the late eighteenth century by John Ashworth, who resided in a large
villa situated immediately beyond the north-western corner of the Site Area. The dye
works appears to have fallen into disuse during the 1820s, and the buildings had been
demolished by 1831. The Site Area was occupied during the second half of the
nineteenth century by terraces of double-depth houses along Trafalgar Square and
Wilburn Street, together with the steam-power plant for a large cotton mill. In 1864,
Wilburn Street Basin was built in the centre of the Site Area and was used originally
as a mooring point for boats plying the Mersey Irwell Navigation.