Land South of Lumley Road, Kendal, Cumbria: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment

Greenlane Archaeology was commissioned to carry out a desk-based assessment on land south of Lumley Road, Kendal, Cumbria. The assessment was carried out in March 2014 and included a site visit.

The site is close to the Roman fort at Watercrook, which is on the opposite (east) side of the River Kent, and Helsington Laithes, the manor house for Helsington, a settlement that is recorded in the Domesday Book. Helsington is recorded in the medieval period but there is otherwise relatively little information relating to the area in this period. A large number of stray finds from the general area, of both Roman and medieval date, indicate that there is likely to have been some activity on the site in either or both of these periods, although the accuracy of the location of many of these finds is uncertain. In addition, an aerial photograph shows an apparent enclosure situated within the north-west corner of the proposed development area, although much of the original extent of this is now lost under the adjoining houses to the north. The field is recorded on the corn rent map of 1836 as Annisteads, which also indicates the presence of a former settlement of some kind.

The site visit identified few constraints to further archaeological work although there is some evidence for disturbance in the form of an overhead high voltage cable and probable water pipes along the north-east and south-east sides.

The full report is available on the Archaeology Data Service website: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-700-1/dissemination/pdf/greenlan1-180885_1.pdf