Currently on-site at Collyhurst Village, The LK Group starts enabling works, bulk earthworks, and site remediation. This includes service disconnections and diversions. It marks the initial phase of Manchester Victoria North, the North of England’s most extensive urban regeneration project.
Graham Mottershead of Salford Archaeology, a commercial organisation in the University of Salford’s professional enterprise division, joined us on-site. Together, we uncovered the old basements of terraced houses that once occupied this space.
After completing ground investigation consultancy at Collyhurst Village, we were aware that Salford Archaeology had conducted its assessment. They found that the proposed development site was open land in the eighteenth century, part of the Mosley family estate in the nineteenth century. (*Pop Culture* for anyone who watches Peaky Blinders, the estate owners were the ancestors of Oswald Mosley.)
In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the proposed development site hosted dense terraced housing for workers. The local community may recall its history as a location for a nursery, cinema, care home, and welfare centre.
Unveiling Oswald’s Grove’s Historical Tapestry
The primary archaeological focus was Oswald’s Grove, a cobbled street erected around 1871. It featured terraced houses with a total footprint of 64.5m², housing tenants such as a lawyer, mechanic, and retired surgeon. The dwellings encircled an open landscaped area, constructed in a particularly unique plan form, some with cellars. The archaeologists were intrigued by any surviving buried remains of these houses.
Throughout the dig, the archaeological team unearthed some interesting items within the preserved basements, including a teapot and a broken ornament, as well as fragments of glassware and crockery. The array of artefacts and a wealth of historical data unearthed from the dig is to be stored and recorded at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.
How fascinating it is to be presented with a window into Manchester’s past. Learning about what life might have been like 120 years ago for those living on the site of the new Collyhurst Village adds an intriguing historical perspective. It is at the same time incredibly exciting to see how the next century of housing and community is about to take shape in this area. The LK Group is proud to be playing its part in making this happen.