ARCUS was commissioned by Derbyshire Consulting Engineers to undertake the excavation of the foundations for a new footbridge across the River Rother, Eckington, Derbyshire. The bridge replaced an earlier structure that spanned two stone abutments and was located on the route of the former Eckington Tramway. The tramway is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM No.DR252) and the bridge is located at NGR: SK 43877 79452. The archaeological excavation involved the hand excavation of two small trenches (2.5m x 1.5m) in the top of the tramway embankment, on either side of the river. Trench 1 located on the western river bank, revealed a series of rubble-filled deposits, probably associated with the construction of the stone abutments and former trackbed from the tramway. In the southwest corner of the trench a linear alignment of coursed sandstone blocks was recorded. These continued beyond the trench and were interpreted as remains of foundation blocks for the former iron tracks of the tramway. Trench 2, on the eastern river bank, identified an L-shaped structure of similar construction to that in Trench 1. This structure consisted of mortared dressed stone blocks at least three courses in height. These blocks appeared to represent the continuation of the track foundations identified within Trench One. There were very few finds and no other significant features or deposits were encountered within either trench. The watching brief during the excavation of postholes for new boundary fences identified very little additional evidence in relation to the functioning or nature of construction of the tramway.
Bell et al. (Wed,) studied this question.