Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Manvers Way, Rotherham, South Yorkshire

In November 2007, ARCUS were commissioned by Turner and Townsend to undertake a desk-based assessment of land at Manvers Way, Rotherham, South Yorkshire (SE 44304 01364). The assessment was produced in relation to a planning application for the construction of the new Dearne Valley Fire Station and included a site visit, along with documentary and cartographic research. The proposal area lies to the north-east of the historic core of Wath-upon-Dearne and appears to have been in agricultural use during the medieval and post-medieval periods. Prior to the Wath parliamentary enclosures of 1814, the site comprised of commons and privately-enclosed fields and was in use as pasture throughout the 19th century. A mineral railway most likely associated with Manvers Main Colliery ran through the proposal area between 1901 and 1989, while a large spoil heap was also present within the site between 1947 and 1976. Substantial ground disturbance associated with this period, including the construction of railway embankments and a land reclamation programme following the removal of the spoil heap, is likely to have impacted upon any previously unknown sub-surface archaeological deposits that may have been present. This is likely to have been compounded by landscaping works associated with the areas post-industrial regeneration and the construction of Manvers Way.