Archaeological evaluation : Oldfield Road, Salford

Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Muse Developments to undertake anarchaeological evaluation of land on Oldfield Rd (centred on NGR: SJ82573 98439),currently being developed as part of Salford’s regeneration scheme. This reportconsists of the results of three evaluation trenches excavated in December 2016.An archaeological assessment completed earlier in the year demonstrated the studyarea had potential for late 18th - 19th buildings, including housing, a public house andthe western end of an industrial complex: Islington Mill. No earlier archaeologicalremains were anticipated given the later development of the site, particularly in thesouthern part of the site, which was recently occupied by a hostel and leisure complexwith deep footings. The accidental loss of a large portion of the cellared housing inthe northern part of the site through groundwork restricted potential to a narrow strip,in the middle of the study area.The trenches in the study area confirmed the western limit of the southern wall of late18th - 19th century mill, which was located to the east of the study area. The trenchclosest to Oldfield Rd, revealed a series of walls of a cellared building with a partiallysurviving flagstone floor. This was likely part of the public house, the Jollies. Thetrench located in the middle part of the site revealed a single brick pad and lineargulley feature, cut into the natural clay. Together these archaeological remainsconfirm 19th century domestic and industrial activity. The natural clay was observedat approximately 1.5m below the existing ground levels at the south-east side of thesite and at 1.9m depth towards the north-west. No earlier archaeological remains wereencountered.The results obtained from the evaluation trenches have indicated that no remains ofarchaeological significance survive within the study area and that no furtherarchaeological work is required