The Square Church, Square Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report

AOC Archaeology undertook an archaeological evaluation via trial trenching of the site of the former 19th century Square Church, Halifax, which was largely demolished in the 1970s. This was primarily to determine the presence of possible burials within the site, although the trenches only identified 1970s demolition deposits and an 18th century pig burial. No deposits pre-dating the post-medieval period were encountered. Only one of the evaluation trenches revealed deposits pre-dating the construction of the church and these appear to represent an isolated pocket of survival. The earlier deposits comprised an 18th century soil horizon and a pig burial, both most likely associated with former horticultural or agricultural use. The evaluation indicated that the present ground level lies above an approximately 2m deep deposit of demolition rubble created when the remains of the church building were demolished in 1976. It is also suggested that the site on which the church was built was terraced down to the natural geology to create a level platform, on to which the building was constructed. This is likely to have destroyed or truncated any surviving earlier archaeological features or deposits across much of the site. No evidence for graves or related structures were identified, and no human remains were encountered during the evaluation.