New Road, Littleborough, Rochdale, Greater Manchester Archaeological Watching Brief Report

Oxford Archaeology (OA) North were commissioned by Russell Homes to
undertake a watching brief at the site of a housing development off New Road
(A58), Littleborough, Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The work took place over
5 days between 14TH November 2019 and 16th April 2020, and was focused on
an area measuring approximately 0.9ha located along the northeastern
perimeter of the wider development. Unfortunately, a large amount of the
topsoil strip within the monitoring area was undertaken without OA Norths
knowledge and therefore without archaeological monitoring. Parts of the area
were subsequently used for spoil storage and the construction of a haulage
road. In an attempt to compensate for this oversight, spoil bunds within the
area were cleared and the area was again subject to mechanical cleaning of
the exposed natural surfaces. No archaeological remains were observed
during the watching brief exercise.