Port Salford/Salford City Road, Barton Lane, Salford (previously known as Salford City Reds development)
1 - Pre-determination assessment/evaluation identified significant new heritage assets
Pre-determination assessment/evaluation identified significant archaeology on the development site (i.e. the results created significant new knowledge), especially where none was previously known in the HER.
7 - Pre-commencement archaeological conditions were attached to a planning permission
Pre-commencement archaeological conditions were attached to a planning permission and were necessary in order to enable the development to be permitted.
Non-designated heritage assets of archaeological and historic interest
Erection of a 12,000 capacity Community Stadium, training pitches, parking, access and associated works for Salford City Reds. Application included new access road cutting through promontory overlooking the River Irwell and defined by kink in former Barton Road line.
No HER entries for the site but a desk based assessment in 2003, and consultation with GMAU, identified the site as a favourable topographic location for early settlement. This was based on the site being a promontory on a narrow spit of habitable land sandwiched between the expanse of wetland known as Chat Moss on one side and the River Irwell flood plain on the other.
Pre-application evaluation trenching and a small 5x5m investigation in 2008 identified prehistoric and Roman remains. This suggested that the promontory was the location for multi-phase occupation in the late Mesolithic-Neolithic period and during the late Iron Age/Roman period.
The above evaluation led to open area excavations in 2013 revealing a series of boundary ditches, possible hut circles, sub-circular enclosures, and a cremation.
The excavation forms part of an exhibition on Salford’s Early Past in Salford Central Station foyer. It has informed our understanding of potential early settlement sites on promontories where existing knowledge in the HER is very poor.
- Gregory, R. & Garratt, R. 2008, City of Salford Stadium, Barton: An Archaeological Evaluation and Building Survey. Unpublished report, University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, Report No. 44. Note: Draft final excavation report submitted but still awaiting corrected and updated version
