| Description | Site of the battle of Adwalton Moor fought 30/6/1643 when the Earl of Newcastle (for the King, with ca. 10,000 men) defeated a Parliamentary army of 3 4,000 under Lord Fairfax. With the exception of the battle of Marston Moor (1644), Adwalton Moor was the most important battle fought north of the Trent during the First Civil War. The battle gave control of the north to the Royalists and gave them the opportunity to threaten the Parliamentary heartland of the Eastern Association. About half the battlefield is built over (EH have excluded this area from their Battlefield Area), but fortunately the part of the battlefield upon which the Parliamentarian advance was halted remains open ground. Similarly the eastern approaches of Westgate Hill are still open between Hodgson Lane and the Bradford to Wakefield road, as is The Plantation, where a series of small ponds pinpoint the location of the old coal pits mentioned in contemporary accounts of the battle. N.B. Grid ref. centred on the plaque to the battle by the library.
A metal detector survey and watching brief (PRN 7434) was carried out by WYAS between July and August 2000 along the proposed route of a foul water sewer on land at Cross Lane (centred on SE 2140 2930). Neither the metal detector survey nor the watching brief identified any archaeological artefacts or features.
A metal detector survey (PRN 7437) was undertaken by Field Archaeology Specialists (FAS) in April 2001 (centred on SE 211 291). A total of 390 non ferrous and 84 ferrous contacts were located and these results did not indicate that any distinct concentrations or an unusually high density of metal objects were present. None of the contacts were excavated.
A site on Hodgson Lane, Driglington was visited 21/09/2010 in response to a planning application as it lay within the registered battlefield of Adwalton Moor. The proposals are for a new dwelling in the rear garden of the house. The garden had not been developed, and therefore there is potential for battlefield remains to be present within the site. |