Site Event/Activity record ECH6615 - Feeder Canal, Slopes Garden, Lyme Park, Cheshire: Archaeological Watching Brief

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in May and October 2017 during repairs to the Feeder Canal, in The Slopes Garden, Lyme Park. The work was the final stage of an ongoing project to repair the Feeder Canal, the initial archaeological investigation for which was undertaken in August 2015 (ECH????). The Slopes Garden is located in the heart of Lyme Park, almost immediately to the south-west of Lyme Hall. To the south of the Hall is the South Pond, this feature is dammed within what was historically a small valley, now partially infilled. The Slopes Garden is located on the south valley flank, and the Rough Cascade was designed to run down this valley flank. The Feeder Canal delivers a flow of water from the South Pond to the Cascade, and the dam lip of the Canal (i.e. the maximum water level) is located at 241.73m OD. The canal comprises a deep walled trough which extends between the South Pond, and the Rough Cascade. A masonry dam is located at the west end of the canal and leaking water in the vicinity of this necessitated the repair works and allowed for close investigation and understanding of a timber box culvert and other water-control features. Additionally, soil heaps were scanned by metal detector, and all finds were recorded photographically and subsequently deposited with the National Trust at Lyme Park. Finds recovered included weaponry from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The overall conclusion was that the feeder canal, dam, drop board sluice and the box culvert were likely to have been constructed in the mid nineteenth. They may have been direct replacements for a water course which was already over 100 years old at this point in time. The putative rebuild was perhaps contemporary with the remodelling of the South Pond which occurred in c.1840. (1)