ARCUS were commissioned by CgMs Consulting to undertake an archaeological survey of land adjacent to the Hope Limestone Quarries, Derbyshire. Planning permission exists for a extension to the current quarry, and although archaeological works were not required as part of this permission, they were undertaken in parallel with a review of the planning permission under the Environment Act. The aim of the current survey was to accurately locate the known features, identify any previously unrecorded features, and bring together the results of the previous archaeological work in order that the significance of the area can be assessed. The survey identified several features of archaeological interest within the survey area. Many of these features had been recorded previously, during excavations in the 1980s and 1990s, and through a sketch survey of farm land undertaken by the Peak District National Park Authority. The survey recorded the upstanding remains of stone-built enclosures which may be prehistoric in date. The largest enclosure may also have a ditch associated with it. The enclosures are likely to be related to stock husbandry, but there is also the potential for (temporary) prehistoric settlement remains to be present in the location. A possible building platform was also identified. Flint artefacts have been found within the survey area through a series of test-pit excavations. The remains of late seventeenth-century stone enclosure walls were also recorded, as were the extensive remains of lead mining activity. Modern land use, including road building, tree planting and land improvement has had an impact upon the buried and upstanding archaeological remains, but previous excavations have demonstrated that buried features survive, even in fields which have previously been improved. Despite previous excavations, the date of the stone enclosures has not been established and the archaeology of the site is relatively poorly understood. The potential for archaeological remains from prehistoric times through to the present day to survive on the site is considered high, and could provide additional valuable information on the landscape development and human habitation/use of the area. Additional extraction will affect a portion of the area surveyed.
Anna Badcock (Thu,) studied this question.