Description

Ballymore Developments Ltd commissioned Wessex Archaeology to undertake an archaeological evaluation of the former Goods Yard of Hayes and Harlington Station, covering an area of c.1.35 hectares. The site is centred on National Grid Reference 509850 179500. This fieldwork followed an earlier desk-based assessment showing low archaeological potential of the site to contain features or deposits for all periods except the post-medieval. There was high potential for post-medieval deposits and features associated with an 19th century canal basin and the railway works that occupied the site from 1914 onwards.
The proposed evaluation included the machine excavation of a total of six 10 by 10m, stepped trenches. An additional trench was excavated (Trench 7) to record more of the canal basin. The trenches were located in areas of the site avoiding areas of contamination and earlier brickearth quarrying, defined respectively by borehole and cartographic surveys. Three of the trenches (Trenches 2, 3 and 4) were specifically targeted on a 19th century canal basin clearly shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey (1886) map of the site.
No archaeological features, artefacts or deposits derived from human activity predating the late post-medieval period were recorded from the evaluation.