Barnacre 15" Water Main St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire. Archaeological Watching Brief.

A watching brief was undertaken by Oxford Archaeology North between August 2003 and May 2004 during the excavation of 46 launch and retrieve pits associated with the replacement and modernisation of a 15” Victorian water main. A watching brief was also maintained during an easement topsoil strip and the exposure and removal of a 320m section of the existing pipe.
The route of the replacement pipe followed that of the original main which traversed an area considered to have archaeological potential. Archaeological monitoring of the
works was therefore required and, accordingly, the watching brief was commissioned by Alfred McAlpine Utility Services.
The pits were excavated along the line of the original water pipe which was routinely exposed and removed as part of the works. In consequence, the excavated material largely comprised backfill from when the main was originally laid and no archaeological remains, other than features associated with the Victorian pipe itself, were encountered.