Site Event/Activity record ECH6720 - Land at Former Riverside College, Campus Drive, Runcorn, Borough of Halton, Cheshire: Archaeological Watching Brief

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2019 for an area of land at the former Riverside College, Campus Drive, Runcorn, Halton, for which planning permission has been granted for development of up to 144 residential dwellings. The site, which extends to an area of c. 4.05ha (10.2 acres), is situated c. 0.8km west of Runcorn town centre. It lies wholly within the Runcorn Area of Archaeological Potential. The Site was used for industrial purposes in the 20th century and a warehouse was present in the centre of the Site in the 1990’s. However, the warehouse was demolished and the college buildings were constructed by 2002; the college is now disused. A review of the historic and archaeological interest at the Site along with a review of the potential effects of the proposed development upon archaeology was undertaken and concluded that there was potential for buried archaeological remains; accordingly, archaeological monitoring of groundworks was undertaken. During the late 18th century the landscape in this area transformed from agriculture into an industrial communication and distribution hub. The Site contains multiple heritage assets dating to the period from 1776, when the final stretch of the Bridgewater Canal, connecting Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh was opened. The development of a waterborne communication infrastructure at the Site ultimately lead to large-scale modification of the existing topography in order to create three distinct plateaus, each with either a dock or canal basin and associated wharf. The bottom two tiers in the west were connected by a lock allowing barges to move upward and downward between the two basins. The eastern level was served by a wharf that entered the canal network to the east. In addition to this, a series of large locks were built at, or immediately south of, the Site boundary to move barges from the Manchester Ship Canal (opened 1984) to the west of the Site. The old line of locks in Runcorn (a small part of which lies within the Site) fell into disuse in the late 1930s, and was closed under the Ship Canal Act of 1949 and filled in. The final lock, originally providing access to the Mersey, but after 1894 providing access to the Manchester Ship Canal, survives in a private, landscaped area between two apartment blocks Gilbert House and Jessop House. This lock is a Listed Building (NHL ref. 1130440). The Ship Canal Act of 1966 allowed the closure and filling in of the newer line of locks, opened in 1827 (partly lying within the area of the Site). So, as well as the lengths of canal and basins, the Site contains locks, parts of Coal Basin and Old Basin, the site of the Coal Wharf Iron Ore Arm, Sebastopol Arm wharfs and other structures. In addition 37 Mersey flats, a type of flat bottomed barge, were sunk or abandoned in locks and adjacent basins in the early 1950's. The watching brief identified and recorded five sections of substantial sandstone block walling, in places surviving to some 5m below the current ground surface. The work demonstrated there is a demonstrable preservation in situ of archaeologcal features and deposits, also that the Site had been previously substantially backfilled. (1)