CTP St. James had been granted planning consent for the construction of a new building (the Green Building) on a site occupied by a car park with a former industrial site known as the Round Foundry in Holbeck, Leeds. Following an archaeological evaluation of the site, an archaeological condition was placed upon it by the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service (WYAAS). The condition required the archaeological mitigation of the deposits within the development area by excavation. ARCUS were commissioned by CTP ST James to undertake the archaeological mitigation at the site of the new Green Building (Phase 2c). This document comprises the Assessment Report of the mitigation fieldwork and gives a brief overview of the archaeological features and deposits exposed with a view to establishing their historical and archaeological significance. This document will be used by WYAAS to advise of any requirement for further post-excavation work. The site was located to the south of the Hol Beck and Water Lane, between Foundry Street and David Street. The area of the mitigation fieldwork contained the footprint of elements of the historic core of the Round Foundry. This was established in 1796 by Murray Wood, machine-makers as a specialist integrated engineering foundry, only the second such foundry to have been built. The complex is significant as the sole survivor of the first generation of such manufactories. The archaeological fieldwork exposed extensive archaeological deposits. A significant number of well-preserved archaeological structures were identified dating from the 19th century in addition to a number of features, particularly in the north and west areas, which were interpreted as dating from the initial phase of the works during the late 18th and early 19th century. Subsequent development of the site illustrated by the cartographic sources correlated well with the succession of archaeological features identified and a simple series of building phases can be suggested on the basis of the structural relationships for each area. The structures exposed had a complex history, with evidence for a number of modifications and rebuilding phases which illustrate the fluid nature of the internal spatial arrangement of an industrial building during its working use. The amount of artefactual material was low, reflecting the non-domestic nature of the site and the value of re-using materials, particularly scrap metal. It is recommended that a programme of further analysis and reporting is undertaken with a fully integrated approach to the site as a whole.
Sean Bell (Mon,) studied this question.