Site Event/Activity record ECH3778 - Manchester Airport - Runway 2: Evaluation Report

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken in 1997 for land affected by the development of the second runway at Manchester Airport. The evaluation comprised a landscape study, a sample excavation and palaeoenvironmental study. (See also ECH3766/SCH4251-2 for the 'Draft' report on this work) The results of the landscape study indicated that there were post medieval archaeological features of an agricultural nature surviving as earthworks within the development area, comprising extraction pits, ridge and furrow and field boundaries. The results of the sample excavation indicated that part of the site adjacent to Altrincham Road and Oversley Farm contained significant archaeological deposits/features dating from the Mesolithic through to the post medieval periods, and significantly, Bronze Age remains representative of domestic settlement (see ECH3779/SCH3975 for results of excavation of the Oversley Farm site). The sample excavation also indentified features of potentially Bronze Age and post medieval date in the vicinity of Sugar Brook, although the archaeology in this area had been severely truncated by ploughing resulting in a low potential for recovery of further information. The results of the paleaeoenvironmental study in the Bollin Valley indicated a sequence of four river channels spanning over 2000 years of the rivers' history from the late Iron Age to the present. The recovery of flint artefacts dating to the early Bronze Age within the river silts suggest the valley was being exploited by humans from this time. Results of this archaeological evaluation are presented in two volumes - SCH3972-3; R2285/1-2. (1-2)