Site Event/Activity record ECH6531 - The North West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment (NWRCZA): Field Survey (Phase 2)

Between April 2011 and August 2012 Archaeological Research Services Ltd carried out Phase 2 of the Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment for North West England (NWRCZA). The project was undertaken for English Heritage with the project data fed back into the Historic Environment Records (HERs) of the various local authority partners. The primary aim of the NWRCZA project was to identify heritage assets along the coast and assess the level of threat that they currently face with a view to identifying priority sites and proposing strategies for their future management. Phase 1 of the project occurred between 2007 and 2009 and comprised desk based research together with air photographic mapping (see ECH6212). Phase 2 of the project focused on a rapid survey of all extant archaeological features visible at fifty targeted sites and areas identified as being under threat by the Phase 1 assessment and through consultation with local authority archaeologists and other project partners. The project also aimed to survey and sample inter-tidal peat deposits at an additional ten locations. During the course of the project, further at risk sites and inter-tidal peat deposits were added to the survey as new threatened areas were identified, or when information on threatened sites was provided by project partners and local people. The results of the survey and sampling can now be utilised to enhance the existing HER and NMR record and provide a useful tool to feed back into the Shoreline Management Plans, better informing the management of the archaeology of the coastal margin in the future. The results and outputs of the NWRCZA project can be used to support new actions and projects that help local communities better engage with their coastal heritage and conserve and record heritage assets at risk. (1-2)