Watching Brief at The Active Centre, Airedale, Castleford, West Yorkshire

ARCUS was commissioned by Chrysalis Youth Project to undertake an archaeological watching brief during the construction of a new building within the Projects property known as The Active Centre, located in Airedale, Castleford, West Yorkshire (NGR SE 446 262). The requirement for an archaeological watching brief was issued by WYAS Advisory Service, in line with government policy outlined in PPG16 (Department of Environment 1990) and was carried out in accordance with the Specification for Archaeological Monitor and Recording Exercise issued by WYAS Advisory Service, with guidelines issued by the Institute Archaeologists (IFA, 1999) and with current industry best practice. During the watching brief a large linear feature was identified. In plan this was seen to turn through one right-angle. During later phases of the work the feature was interpreted as turning through another right-angle to form an open-ended sub- rectangular shape. Over the course of the watching brief two sections were excavated through this feature, one by hand, and one by machine. This indicated that the feature consisted of two U-shaped cuts with the later cut partially truncating the earlier. A small assemblage of faunal remains was recovered from both sections. A number of Romano-British pottery sherds were recovered from the area of machine- excavation. This assemblage would appear to date from the early fourth century AD. It is unclear if this material was contemporary with the use of the feature or represents redeposited residual material.