This report describes works undertaken by Archaeological Consultancy and Research at the University of Sheffield (ARCUS) in November 2002. ARCUS was retained consultants acting for Tarmac Central Ltd in order to assess the likely archaeological impact of a proposed extension scheme at Dene Quarry, Cromford. This scheme would involve taking in two areas of agricultural land to the north and south of the present quarry. A total of six machine trenches and twenty five test pits were dug to ascertain the nature of archaeological earthworks and map any broad scatters of artefactual material. As far as can be determined from this investigation, lead-working activity in both the northern and southern proposed extraction areas dates from the eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. Evidence for demonstrably earlier cultivation survives in both areas. In the northern area, ceramic evidence suggests a medieval date for the ridge and furrow, and while ceramic evidence is less good for the southern area, the ridge and furrow is likely to be of medieval date. The lynchets visible in both areas remain undated, but may relate to medieval or earlier phases of cultivation.
Tim Allen (Wed,) studied this question.