Source/Archive record SCH4474 - Grafton New Hall: Landscape History and Archaeology - and - Preliminary Report on Supplementary Archaeological Investigations

The area under consideration is an important and sensitive piece of landscape, from both the archaeological and historical perspectives. Of particular value are the following features: A: this is part of a wider but integral historic landscape, which stretches down to the Dee, which would lose value should destruction occur in this location; B: there survives here an important, interrelated and tight- knit group of landscape features, each of which enhances the_, value of the others; C: these separate features belong to several different eras, from the Roman to the Victorian, providing a chronological depth which again adds value to the group as a whole. The single biggest threat to the archaeological landscape lies in the risk of agricultural development, which has already destroyed the surface features of hundreds of acres of medieval landscape in this locality. There is a powerful case for sensitive development which can guarantee the preservation of sensitive areas and specific features from ploughing and the consequent wholesale destruction of the historic fabric of this important landscape.