Kingsway Baths and Bridge Houses, Lancaster. Archaeological Watching Brief.

Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by Eric Wright Construction to undertake an archaeological watching brief prior to the development of the area east of the Bridge Houses, north-west of Back Caton Road and to the north-east of Farm Foods car park (centred on SD 4810 6225) (Fig 2). The watching brief involved the excavation of three trenches 1.3m by 4.5m, 2.25m deep, 1.3m by 4.8m, 2m deep and 1.3m by 5.7m, 2.2m deep. The work was undertaken on 9th June 2005.
The site was marginal to the town of Lancaster until the late eighteenth century.
Before this time it was largely unoccupied, except for a mill leat and private gardens. From the 1780s its location beside the new Skerton Bridge made it more accessible,
and it became part of an industrial and commercial quarter, including a rope walk and other business premises.
The watching brief revealed no evidence for archaeological features or deposits.
However, it is evident that a period of dumping has occurred and it appears that the ground level had been made up, probably during the construction of the New Bridge
(now Skerton Bridge) and the Bridge Houses.