Bonded Warehouse, Water Street, Manchester. Greater Manchester. Archaeological Desk-based Assessment

Referred to as the Bonded Warehouse, this non-designated heritage asset was built in c 1867 as a replacement for two earlier railway warehouses that were destroyed by a fire in 1866. The building is not afforded any statutory protection, other than its location in the Castlefield Conservation Area. The Bonded Warehouse makes a very positive contribution to the setting of the area, which is characterised by historic railway structures; the building will be retained as part of the current development proposal.
In order to inform the design proposals, and support the planning process, Allied London Properties Ltd commissioned Oxford Archaeology North to undertake an archaeological assessment of the site. This aimed to establish, as far as possible, the nature and significance of the sub-surface archaeological resource within the area, and assess the impact of the development proposals upon this resource; this report focuses on the below-ground archaeological resource, as a detailed consideration of the above-ground historic environment is presented in a separate heritage appraisal that has been prepared for the wider proposed St John’s Quarter.