Birley Fields, Hulme, Manchester, Greater Manchester. Community Excavation.

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) has obtained planning consent from Manchester City Council for a proposed redevelopment of a plot of land known as Birley Fields, situated in the Hulme area of Manchester (centred on NGR SJ 8370 9665). An archaeological desk-based assessment of the site carried out in 2011 traced the development of the site from the late eighteenth century to the present day, and
concluded that there was some potential for buried archaeological remains of local significance. In particular, it was considered possible that the remains of a post medieval farmstead, two mid-nineteenth-century churches, and associated workers’ dwellings may survive beneath the modern ground surface. This was corroborated to some extent by the results obtained from a geophysical survey of the site carried out subsequently, which identified some anomalies that were interpreted as possibly representing some archaeological remains (University of Salford 2012).
Following on from the desk-based assessment, the County Archaeologist for Greater Manchester, who provides planning advice to Manchester City Council, recommended that a programme of intrusive investigation was undertaken in advance of the development of the site. MMU used this opportunity to facilitate a community led archaeological excavation, and commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA
North) to provide the required supervision.