Farmers and Weavers

Large-scale redevelopment at Kingsway Business Park, near Rochdale, and Cutacre Country Park, near Bolton, has provided an important opportunity to investigate the prehistoric and later rural landscapes in the south-eastern corner of the historic county of Lancashire, now part of Greater Manchester. A combination of archaeological techniques has been employed to explore the archaeology of these areas, principally comprising standing-building survey and open-area excavation, directed towards the investigation of 17 sites. Topographical survey and palaeoenvironmental coring were also used to examine the character of the early landscape. Evidence for prehistoric and medieval activity was discovered within the two areas, particularly a significant Middle Bronze Age settlement and medieval iron-smelting site at Cutacre, although the majority of the remains investigated dated to the post-medieval and industrial periods. These latter remains relate to a range of different rural house types and farm buildings, built by the lesser gentry, and the yeoman and tenant farmers of the region. This volume is the result of a multi-disciplinary approach to the archaeology, with the work of a range of authors from Oxford Archaeology and the University of Salford, and also several external specialists. The results greatly enhance an understanding of the archaeology of Greater Manchester, and, more generally, provide important information on rural settlement in north-west England.