Mill Hill Resource Centre, Watson Street, Blackburn -Archaeological Investigation

Southdale has obtained planning permission (Planning Application 10/14/1156) for the erection of 23 dwellings at Watson Street, in the Mill Hill area of Blackburn (centred on NGR SD 66882 26817), on the site of the former Mill Hill Resource Centre. The proposed development will necessitate considerable earth-moving works with a potential to have a negative impact on any buried archaeological remains. The development site was occupied from c 1780 by a calico printworks, which remained in use until 1843, when the site was redeveloped as a cotton mill. Alterations to the mill building were carried out subsequently, as shown on Ordnance Survey mapping published in 1892, with ancillary buildings being erected to the north-east. The mill changed ownership on a number of occasions between the late nineteenth century and its closure in 1929-30, and its eventual demolition in 1934-35. In the light of the historical and archaeological interest in the site, the Lancashire County Archaeology Service, in their capacity as advisors to Blackburn with Darwen Council, recommended that a programme of intrusive archaeological investigation of the site was merited in advance of development, in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework, Paragraph 141. Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by Southdale to undertake the required scheme of works, which was carried out in April 2015. This comprised the mechanical excavation of two targeted areas.