Site Event/Activity record ECH4717 - Proposed Carden hall Golf Course - Draft Archaeological Impact Assessment

Desk top, field survey and trial excavation carried out in 1991 to assess the archaeological potential and likley impact of golf course construction at Carden Park. 33 sites and features were noted. Three key groups of features were identified: an area of potential Prehistoric rock shelters and possible burial mound; the 18th century parkland landscape; various features relating to medieval and later farming practices. The sandstone cliff area is potentially the most sensitive part of the site because of its combination of early prehistoric occupation with eighteenth-century pleasure gardens. It was suggested that the restoration of the pleasure garden would provide an asset for the longer-term development of the park and recommended that the possible barrow should be preserved. The parkland landscape is also recognised as being of exceptional quality, with its mature trees and the well-preserved ha-ha. The report suggested the potential to re-establish the parkland landscape in areas to the south that had been brought into cultivation in recent years. Finally, it was also recognised that elements of the medieval and later farmland landscape had survived in the southern part of the development, including traces of ridge-and-furrow earthworks, marl pits (used as a fertiliser until the nineteenth century), hedges and two cottage sites. One site, a mound and potential barrow (site 22) was partially excavated, it was found to be no more than a natural rock outcrop. (1)