Quarrying could have a major, potentially destructive, impact on our historic environment!

Evidence of prehistoric and Roman-British settlement and the course of one of Britain’s earliest post-Roman canals lie directly beneath the topsoil of the proposed gravel extraction site. Furthermore, the site has an important role in the setting of other heritage assets in the vicinity.   On its eastern boundary is the Grade 2 * listed building, Molecey Mill and the Granary; on its southern edge is the Manor House, another Grade 2 * building.  To the west is the village of West Deeping, most of which is designated as a Conservation Area, with the church, a Grade 1 Listed building and 20 more nationally protected heritage assets on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE).

• Heritage assets undervalued in the planning process

• Archaeological evidence needs rigorous observation, mapping and recording

• Setting of historic buildings should not be destroyed

Molecey Mill, Stamford Road, West Deeping

West Deeping Conservation Area

Conservation area - A dictionary definition “an area of notable environmental or historical interest or importance which is protected by law against undesirable changes.” There are extra planning controls and considerations in place to protect the historic and architectural elements which make West Deeping special -

Listed buildings on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE)

As well as the Grade 1 St Andrew’s Church and two Grade 2 * listings,  the Manor House and Molecey Mill,  West Deeping has another 20 nationally protected historic sites.  These include barns, a former maltings, a couple of converted granaries,  a pigeon Cote, a table tomb, a pair of bridges, a milepost and a telephone box.

Archaeological evidence of previous settlement and agriculture

Archaeological investigation in advance of gravel extraction in the fields to the north of the main road has uncovered a complex history of prehistoric and Romano-British land use and habitation.  Aerial photography of the fields to the east of the village provides evidence that this landscape pattern extended further to the south, certainly as far as the present course of the River Welland.  Cropmarks indicate the presence of several archaeological features – pit alignments, linear and ring ditches likely to be of the Bronze Age period (2,200 – 800 BC); Roman farm buildings (43 – 410 AD).  These are referred to by planners, archaeologists and gravel operators as “non-designated heritage assets” and listed in Lincolnshire County Council’s Heritage Environment Record. https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/historic-environment/historic-environment-record

There is a strong likelihood of further as-yet unrecorded features being found if the site were to be excavated.

Archival evidence of the Welland Navigation / Stamford Canal

Historical maps show the course of the former Welland Navigation (now also known as the Stamford Canal) running east-west through West Deeping with part of its course in Lammas Close, the designated gravel extraction site.  Also in this section was one of the canal’s 12 locks. In the adjoining property of Molecey’s Mill there was another lock, known as Molecey Lock. Archival sources date the canal’s construction to about 1650 – making it one of the earliest post-Roman canals in Britain, pre-dating the so-called Canal Age by 100 years. The Stamford Canal as a whole, from Stamford in the west, to Deeping St James in the east, is identified as MLI34762 in the Heritage Environment Record  for Lincolnshire.  It is also recognised as historically significant and designated by the Institution of Civil Engineers, Panel for Historical Engineering Works as HEW#1945.  A recent geophysical survey (using ground-based physical sensing techniques) and a trial borehole have confirmed the survival of archaeological evidence of the route of the canal.

Detailed evidence from the archives - of the course of the canal and of the location of the lock - including maps, can be provided on request to: wdheritage@hotmail.co.uk (link https://wdheritage.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/stamford-canal-leaflets.pdf)

Historic England, a key player in the consultation process for the selection of mineral extraction sites and the granting of planning permission to quarry operators identifies the potential impacts of mineral extraction on the historic environment. It states:

“The scale and technical proficiency of modern quarrying means that it can have a major, potentially destructive, impact on archaeological remains and can result in significant harm to the significance of nearby heritage assets. But quarrying also offers rare potential to deliver new knowledge about our historic environment.”

Impacts will vary depending on the type and scale of mineral extraction: 

• There are impacts within the footprint of extraction eg. on archaeological remains, and on the heritage setting beyond that footprint.

• Noise, dust and the vibration caused by the regular passage of HGVs have the potential to damage the fabric of historic buildings and other heritage assets. Such traffic can also diminish our enjoyment and appreciation of these assets.

• Inappropriate restoration of former extraction sites can disfigure the historic character of the landscape and compromise the setting of ancient monuments and other historic places.

A report on Impacts of Crushed Rock Quarries on Historic Villages and Cultural Landscapes https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/4845/1/4845.pdf

by researchers from the Centre for Sustainable Heritage, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at University College London, includes a useful categorisation of potential impacts which could equally be applied to gravel and sand extraction.

The impacts of vibration, noise, and dust on buildings and the quality of the environment were investigated at two case study sites, representing areas where large aggregate quarries are operating in close proximity to historic villages and landscapes. 

Vibration

Sand and gravel extraction does not involve blasting of hard rock, which is the most common source of vibration.  However, some ground borne vibration can also be generated through processing plant and vehicle movement.

The following points about noise and dust impact are extracts from the report.

Noise

Noise, whilst not actually harmful to the physical historic environment, reduces the quality of life of communities and the quality of the experience and enjoyment of visitors to historic areas. Noise generated at open site, depending on distance, surrounding topography and prevailing wind direction, can be transmitted beyond site boundaries. Sources of noise include:

• Mobile plant (e.g. Excavators, front loading shovels, dozers and haulage vehicles)

• Static plant (e.g. permanent processing plant)

• Semi –mobile plant (e.g. mobile processing and screening plant)

• Road wagons transporting material to market/depots

The research found that sound readings taken on a seismograph, triggered by both laden and unladen lorries, peaked at 0.375mm/s.  “Even the most conservative codes of practice regard the threshold of 0.5mm/s as not posing a threat to structure – even those with delicate finishes.”  It was noted that there was “a feeling amongst local residents that vibration from aggregates wagons is palpable and probably the cause of structural damage such as settlement”. The research did not find evidence for this view.

“The reason for the apparent large vibration dose is probably two fold:

• The ground-borne vibration is accompanied by air-borne excitation both audible and inaudible. The combined effect can be rather dramatic.

• Humans are rather sensitive to vibration – more so than the buildings they occupy.

Dust

Rock dust can be emitted from passing aggregate lorries and then distributed further afield by re-suspension by other vehicles, pedestrians and the action of the wind. Most rock dust will consist of fairly large particles, which cannot travel very far before falling out of the atmosphere due to gravity. However smaller particles will also be generated and these could be transported much further because they are not so readily deposited from the atmosphere. Two main damage effects to the historic environment are likely to be caused by rock dust:

• Soiling is the visible dirtying of building exteriors, interiors, furnishings and fittings due to the accumulation of dust. Many quarry dusts will be light in colour and therefore show up more clearly on dark materials. Soiling may be harmless in itself, but it could necessitate frequent cleaning in order to meet aesthetic expectations.

• Dust can also bring about chemical attack on some materials. An accumulation of surface dust may increase or deplete the moisture content of the surface; rock dusts (e.g. from limestone and sandstone) are likely to be alkaline in nature and possibly chemically reactive on a wide range of surfaces.

The researchers found that the mineral composition and morphology of dust detected in the outdoor atmosphere at their test sites indicated that a large component of it came from quarrying. Their preliminary analysis suggested  that quarry dust was distributed along transport routes by quarry and other vehicles, and deposited on or nearby to historic buildings. They also noted that the amount of dust would much less than in past decades due to requirements for lorries to be sheeted and for vehicle wheels to be washed as they leave the quarry site.