From Mesolithic Encampment to Medieval Estate: The Archaeology of the Bay Gateway

The Bay Gateway, a highway developed by Lancashire County Council and substantially funded by the Department for Transport, was constructed by Costain between 2014 and 2016 to provide a direct connection between the Port of Heysham, on the Lancashire coast, and Junction 34 of the M6 motorway, c 11 km to the north-east. Whilst groundworks at either end of the scheme involved substantial alterations to existing infrastructure within already heavily developed urban and suburban settings, the majority of the newly constructed elements of the route traversed a largely pastoral landscape, parallel with the River Lune. The undulating countryside is predominantly agricultural in nature, with a patchwork of fields and isolated farmsteads. As well as providing the backdrop for the Bay Gateway, the rolling landscape appears to have been attractive to human settlers within this part of the Lune Valley for some 9000 years, from the Late Mesolithic period, through to the Middle Ages and beyond. Excavations by Oxford Archaeology along the route in 2014 marked the culmination of almost ten years of archaeological investigation, with each study contributing to an understanding of an area that had previously seen little comprehensive research. Preliminary works had comprised desk-based assessment and walkover surveys, devised to define the known archaeological resource of the route, while geophysical survey was undertaken to identify the presence of possible, hitherto unidentified, archaeological remains. The first intrusive survey comprised the evaluation excavation of a series of trial trenches by Rubicon Heritage in early 2013. This tested the results of previous studies and established the presence and potential significance of buried remains. When combined with development proposals, the evaluation permitted the compilation of a mitigation strategy for detailed archaeological investigation in advance of construction works. In its final form, the mitigation was focused on seven discrete areas, wherein remains relating to prehistoric, medieval, and post-medieval activity were identified.