2006 PROJECT SELECTION
Stanley Street, Ulverston, Cumbria: Desk-Based Assessment, Evaluation, and Excavation
Prior to the development of land adjacent to and including a former garage and carpet shop on Stanley Street in Ulverston, a programme of archaeological work was carried out by Greenlane Archaeology, commissioned by Birch Plastering. This initially comprised a desk-based assessment and evaluation, and due to the nature of the discoveries was extended into a small-scale excavation.
Stanley Street is situated on the north side of the Gill, an area of formerly open land, now a car park, thought to have been used as a market-place during the medieval period. The development area was an area of cultivation until the late 19th century when a coach works was established on the site and by the beginning of the 20th century part of the site was being used by an aerated water company. The evaluation revealed thick deposits of post-medieval material containing finds relating to the various industrial processes that had been carried out on the site in most places. However, a stony surface associated with medieval pottery was found on the west side of the site, which was interpreted as a road or yard, and was laid almost directly on the underlying bedrock.
As a result of this discovery a larger area adjacent to the stony layer was excavated in order to better understand and record this feature. The stony area was found to form a linear surface approximately 3.6m wide and orientated north-east/south-west and evidently formed a road. Within the make-up of the road two re-fitting fragments of Northern Gritty Ware dated to the 12th to mid 13th century were recovered, as well as another undated but presumably medieval pottery fragment. The road was also sealed beneath a buried soil containing medieval to early 19th century pottery, including a possible piece of imported Saintonge ware, further confirming its medieval date. In addition, a complete clay pipe bowl dated 1660-1680 marked with the previously unrecorded maker’s initials ‘RC’ was also discovered in the soil overlying the road.
The purpose of the road is not certain. It presumably went out of use some time prior to the construction of Stanley Street (which is shown on a map of 1812), and its orientation suggests it forms a connection between Soutergate and the Gill. It may, therefore, have provided a metalled surface to aid the movement of livestock into market at the Gill. The land to the north is largely agricultural and the name Soutergate may derive from ‘sheep road’, suggesting that animals were brought into the town along this road. The early date of the road revealed during the excavation perhaps demonstrates when the Gill was first used as a market. It is the first archaeological feature of medieval date to be identified in Ulverston, and the investigation of the site has produced the largest collection of medieval pottery to be recovered from the town.
