In advance of proposed development ARCUS were commissioned by PPG Land Ltd, through Under Construction Archaeology Ltd, to conduct a fieldwalking survey over an area of land to the east of Sheepwalk Lane (Site 2), Upton, West Yorkshire. The proposed application area measures approximately 26.06 hectares in size (centred upon grid reference SE 4982 1376). The survey was carried out to gather sufÏcient information to establish the presence/absence, character, extent, and date of any archaeological and historic features and deposits likely to survive within the development area. Relatively few finds were recovered from the proposed development site during fieldwalking. Two worked flints are likely to reflect a low level of prehistoric activity on the site probably during the Neolithic period. Geophysical survey, carried out immediately prior to and during the fieldwalking, indicated the presence of an essentially rural landscape of late prehistoric/Romano-British trackways and fields. No artefacts recovered from the fieldwalking could be attributed to this activity. However it should be noted that the area of geophysical survey which showed a high density of enclosures, south of Wrangbrook Lane, could not be fieldwalked due the presence of crop stubble and low vegetation. Other categories of material recovered included ceramics, ceramic building material, glass and miscellaneous items. The earliest ceramics recovered were later medieval to early post-medieval date. Small quantities of 17th- to 18th-century ceramics and larger quantities of later 19th-century and early 20th century ceramics were also recovered. The later pottery was in concentrations, particularly towards the north- western extents of the site. The ceramic building material, glass and miscellaneous items were of 19th or 20th century date.
O'Neill et al. (Tue,) studied this question.