Archaeological Sites
Archaeological sites and monuments are found in our towns and villages, our fields and woods, and along our coastline. This evidence of past activity can range from finds of single artefacts to large and complex multi‐period sites such as settlements, ritual places and burial sites, and the remains of past industrial activity. Almost all of our modern settlements are built over evidence of previous occupation, with the majority of our towns and villages having historic cores and areas where the remains of earlier activity is likely to be encountered. Where known, archaeological sites and features are recorded on the Lincolnshire Historic Environment Record (HER).
Whether known or unknown, development and construction has the potential to affect archaeology and remove evidence of previous activity. If you are intending to carry out works likely to disturb the ground, are preparing to submit a planning application in one of East Lindsey's historic settlements, or, are planning a major development anywhere in the District then you will need to consider archaeology.
It is always best to contact us before you make a planning application.The Historic Places team (formerly the Historic Environment Team) of Lincolnshire County Council provide advice on pre‐application discussions and planning applications, on the impact on known and potential archaeology. We can help to assess the archaeological potential for a proposed development, and can provide advice to help mitigate its impact on the archaeological resource.This may help your proposal to avoid any archaeology and preserve it in situ, saving time and money.
More information is sometimes required about potential before a planning decision can be made. For this, you could be asked to commission archaeological investigations. A pre-determination archaeological evaluation helps to decide if a site has surviving archaeology. Unless archaeology is of schedulable quality, for most developments any archaeology can be dealt with post-determination, through archaeological conditions attached to any planning permission.
All archaeological work should follow the same process:
- a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) will need to be produced and approved by the planning authority.
- a specified period of time (usually two weeks) is required to give notice of the commencement of work on site.
- the work needs to be undertaken in accordance with the approved WSI.
- a report of the findings needs to be produced, and approved
- the archive needs to be successfully deposited.
Only once all these steps have been complete, can the archaeological condition be fully discharged.
Contact Heritage Lincolnshire, Archaeology:
Address:Senior Historic Environment Officer, Heritage Lincolnshire, The Old School, Cameron Street, Heckington, NG34 9RW
Tel:01526 461499
Email:planning@heritagelincolnshire.org
Contact Lincolnshire County Council, Historic Environment Record:
Address:Planning and Environment, Places Team (Archaeology), Lancaster House, 36 Orchard Street, Lincoln, LN1 1XX.
Tel:01522 782070
Email:lincssmr@lincolnshire.gov.uk
Glossary: Archaeological Works
There is a range of archaeological work which may be required by planning consent, from archaeological monitoring of groundworks to full set piece excavation. The main types of work are listed below, but this list is not exhaustive.
Historic Impact Assessment/Statement of Significance: These should be proportionate and reasonable, providing enough evidence and information to allow understanding of any heritage assets and their settings and how a proposed development may impact upon them, as well as any proposed mitigation of that impact.
Historic Building Recording: This varies according to the significance of the building, from a small-scale photographic recording to a full survey undertaken by a specialist historic buildings surveyor. A detailed description of the levels of Historic Building Recordings can be found on Historic England's website LINK.
Evaluation: This may consist of non-intrusive work such as surveys, or intrusive work such as trenching. Non-intrusive evaluation is not usually sufficient when determining the presence or absence of surviving archaeology, for example geophysical survey is a cost effective first step which should be informed by targeted trial trenching.
Scheme of Works:A planning condition will usually ask for an archaeological scheme of works, this is a general term which covers a range of archaeological responses. The specific level of work will need to be appropriate to the archaeological potential of the site and the impact of the development.
Monitoring: Formerly called a Watching Brief, archaeological monitoring of all groundworks is the lightest archaeological response to deal with the impact of a development.
Strip, Map and Record (SMR): Archaeologically controlled topsoil stripping of an area to reveal archaeological deposits, any surviving features across the site are then sampled and mapped allowing the impacted archaeology to be recorded.
Excavation: The highest level of archaeological response, this is detailed archaeological investigation and recording of significant archaeology before it is destroyed by development.
Mitigation Strategy: usually for more complex archaeological development impacts, most mitigation strategies are informed by field evaluation and are bespoke archaeological solutions to specific development issues. This may include elements of varying degrees of archaeological fieldwork outlined above along with mitigation constraints such as exclusion areas and preservation in situ.