Land at Kilton Lane, Brotton, Redcar & Cleveland: Archaeological Evaluation

In February 2026, the Archaeological Practice Ltd. was commissioned to carry out a programme of archaeological trenching to evaluate the potential risk of groundworks associated with a proposed housing development in the field situated on the west side of Kilton Lane, Brotton, in Cleveland. The evaluation follows a desk-based assessment (Archaeological Practice 2025), undertaken to summarise the current state of knowledge regarding the historical development and cultural heritage value of the site, and may be read in conjunction with this document to provide full background information. The current scheme of archaeological works responds to a request by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council (RCBC), for an archaeological evaluation in advance of formal application for planning consent for the redevelopment of the site. The evaluation took the form of trial trenching in order to inform the Planning Authority of the character, nature, date, depth, and degree of survival of archaeological deposits on this site. A total of 5no trenches were specified by RCBC, positioned to target anomalies revealed by geophysical survey, that had potential to represent archaeological features. The results of evaluation concluded that within the five trenches excavated, only two subtle features were recorded 402. These have been interpreted as plough scars of likely modern origin. No significant archaeological features were encountered and consequently the evaluation trenching had no detrimental impact upon the archaeological resource . Historic mapping indicates the development site lies within a field near the southern boundary of Brotton township that has been used exclusively for agriculture since the Middle Ages, and most likely subjected to many centuries of ploughing. This may explain the shallow stratigraphy observed at the eastern end of the site, with such ploughing having potentially truncated any earlier archaeological remains that may once have existed there, though deeply cut features such as ditches would still be expected to survive. It is possible, however, that a greater accumulation of soil may exist in the western part of the site, due to the sloping topography of the overall site, which grades down to the west. In the absence of significant archaeological finds or features, it is most likely that all the linear anomalies detected by geophysical survey and targeted by trenching on the east side of the proposed development site can be explained as remnants of modern ploughing and/or possible drainage. Therefore, based on the results of the survey and trenching investigations carried out, it is concluded that the archaeological potential of the area is low and no further evaluation work is required.