Archaeological evaluation : Store Street, Ancoats, Manchester

In March 2017, Salford Archaeology was commissioned by CgMs Consulting to carry out an archaeological evaluation of land between Store Street and Millbank Street in the Ancoats area of Manchester (centred on NGR 385150 398175). The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation produced by CgMs Consulting in June 2016, and was required to fulfil a condition (Condition 12) placed on planning consent for the redevelopment of the site (Planning Ref: 110276/FO/2015/C2). The archaeological interest in the site was highlighted in a desk-based assessment that was produced by WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff in 2015. This concluded that there was potential for archaeological remains relating to the early 19 th -century Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary and a mid-19 th -century iron foundry and copper works to survive insitu. The archaeological evaluation comprised the excavation of two 30m long trenches, which were targeted on the footprint of the former iron foundry and copper works in the central part of the site (Trench 1) and the Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary to the north-east (Trench 2). The only archaeological features observed in the excavated trenches, however, comprised a short section of a 20 th -century wall in Trench 1, and a wood-lined circular feature with an associated brick surface in Trench 2. Both of these features were truncated and fragmentary, and were overlain by a homogenous mixed demolition rubble levelling layer, which appeared to have been deposited very recently. Based on the results obtained from the evaluation trenches, it is concluded that no further investigation is merited in advance of the construction works for the proposed development

Archaeological excavation : Skelhorne Street Phase 2, Liverpool

In April 2017, Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Nexus-Heritage to carry out an archaeological excavation of a well and potential workers housing at Skelhorne Street and Bolton Street, Liverpool (centred on NGR 335075 390430). The excavation of the well was carried out on the 30th and 31st of March 2017, following an initial archaeological evaluation Salford Archaeology in January 2017. During the evaluation the presence of ACMs within upper levelling layers meant that the northern end of the site could not be adequately evaluated. Following remediation of this area a trench was excavated across it by Nexus-Heritage during April 2017. The well was machine stripped to its upper level after which it was hand excavated to a depth of c. 1.5m. Following this a 5m square box was excavated 1.5m into the bedrock allowing safe access to hand excavate a further 1.5m of the well. The well was found to be 0.98m in diameter and 7m deep. Its tool marks were consistent with a 19th century feature, serving housing that was built in the early 19th century and appears on the 1848 OS mapping. The fill suggested that it was infilled during the early 20th century when the housing was demolished. The northern trench revealed that the ground reduction observed across the southern half of the site during the evaluation continued across the northern part of the site and no features or structures of archaeological significance remained within the area. The results obtained during the excavations suggested that no further investigation was merited

Archaeological evaluation : Skelhorne Street, Liverpool

Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Nexus-Heritage to undertake an archaeological evaluation on a car park at Skelhorne Street and Bolton Street, Liverpool (centred on NGR 335075 390430) as part of a redevelopment scheme. This report consists of the results from the three evaluation trenches excavated during the course of this work. An archaeological assessment had demonstrated that the study area had the potential for the survival of remains relating to an 18th century bath house, an 18th century steam powered textile mill and a series of 18th and 19th houses depicted on mapping of 1803 and 1848. The trenches within the current study area revealed that bedrock was very close to the surface at the southern end of the site. Trench 2 uncovered the edge of a mid 19th century brick built house that had been constructed over a former rock cut well that is likely to have originally served the 18th century bath house. Both trenches 1 and 3 uncovered remains of a 20th century bus station in the form of a ring beam, concrete floor slab, column bases and a tiled floor. Trench 1, in the northern half of the site showed that the area had used compacted rubble from the demolition of the bus station to level the site prior to having tarmac laid down for the car park. The demolition material contained possible ACMs and so progress in this area had to be ceased. The results obtained from the evaluation trenches have indicated that the ground level, originally a hill sloping downwards from southeast to northwest, had bee significantly reduced in the southeast of the site, cutting into the bedrock by over 3m. The ground reduction lessened downslope and the northwest corner of the area had been built up to create a level car park. This meant that any remains in the east, southeast and south of the site had been removed entirely. As the houses ran downslope to the northwest the chance of cellars surviving increases with the floor of a cellar exposed in trench 2. It may be that deeper cellars exist towards the northwest of the site area but the presence of possible ACMs in the overburden precludes further excavation in this area at present

Shape descriptors for mode-shape recognition and model updating

The most widely used method for comparing mode shapes from finite elements and experimental measurements is the Modal Assurance Criterion (MAC), which returns a single numerical value and carries no explicit information on shape features. New techniques, based on image processing (IP) and pattern recognition (PR) are described in this paper. The Zernike moment descriptor (ZMD), Fourier descriptor (FD), and wavelet descriptor (WD), presented in this article, are the most popular shape descriptors having properties that include efficiency of expression, robustness to noise, invariance to geometric transformation and rotation, separation of local and global shape features and computational efficiency. The comparison of mode shapes is readily achieved by assembling the shape features of each mode shape into multi-dimensional shape feature vectors (SFVs) and determining the distances separating them. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd

Archaeological evaluation : Oldfield Road, Salford

Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Muse Developments to undertake an archaeological evaluation of land on Oldfield Rd (centred on NGR: SJ82573 98439), currently being developed as part of Salford’s regeneration scheme. This report consists of the results of three evaluation trenches excavated in December 2016. An archaeological assessment completed earlier in the year demonstrated the study area had potential for late 18th - 19th buildings, including housing, a public house and the western end of an industrial complex: Islington Mill. No earlier archaeological remains were anticipated given the later development of the site, particularly in the southern part of the site, which was recently occupied by a hostel and leisure complex with deep footings. The accidental loss of a large portion of the cellared housing in the northern part of the site through groundwork restricted potential to a narrow strip, in the middle of the study area. The trenches in the study area confirmed the western limit of the southern wall of late 18th - 19th century mill, which was located to the east of the study area. The trench closest to Oldfield Rd, revealed a series of walls of a cellared building with a partially surviving flagstone floor. This was likely part of the public house, the Jollies. The trench located in the middle part of the site revealed a single brick pad and linear gulley feature, cut into the natural clay. Together these archaeological remains confirm 19th century domestic and industrial activity. The natural clay was observed at approximately 1.5m below the existing ground levels at the south-east side of the site and at 1.9m depth towards the north-west. No earlier archaeological remains were encountered. The results obtained from the evaluation trenches have indicated that no remains of archaeological significance survive within the study area and that no further archaeological work is required

Archaeological building investigation and evaluation : City Tower, Todd Street, Manchester

In July 2016, Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Unique Boutique Hotels (Manchester) Ltd to undertake an historic building investigation of the former Cathedral School on Todd Street, Manchester (centred on SJ 8406 9886). Following the demolition of the building in November 2016, Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd commissioned Salford Archaeology to carry out an archaeological evaluation on the land. Both elements of the project were required as part of a redevelopment scheme. The historic building investigation was commensurate with a Level I-type survey, and the evaluation comprised the excavation of a single trench, which aimed to establish the presence or absence of buried archaeological remains within the proposed development area. An archaeological desk-based assessment compiled in 2010 demonstrated that the study area had the potential for the survival of remains relating to 18th- and 19th-century buildings, including housing, public houses and a series of schools. The site’s proximity to the original medieval core of Manchester also raised the possibility for earlier medieval remains being present in uncellared areas of the site, particularly within a former central courtyard. The historic building investigation concluded that the remnants of the former Cathedral School had been subject to considerable remodelling and alterations during the later 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in the basement and ground floor, with a resultant loss of historic fabric. The investigation has enabled an appropriate record of the building to be completed prior to its demolition. The evaluation trench excavated across the study area revealed that basements had removed all remains at the south-east and north-west ends of the trench. Natural gravels were observed between these basements, but did not contain any features of archaeological significance. The natural gravels were tested by excavating a sondage to 4.2m, and were shown to be consistent throughout, becoming much more indurated at depth. The results obtained from the evaluation trenches have indicated that no remains of archaeological significance survive within the study area, and that no further archaeological work in advance of development is merited

The environment impact assessment bill: one step forward or two steps back?

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Switched wave packets: A route to nonperturbative quantum control

The dynamic Stark effect due to a strong nonresonant but nonionizing laser field provides a route to quantum control via the creation of novel superposition states. We consider the creation of a field-free "switched" wave packet through adiabatic turn-on and sudden turn-off of a strong dynamic Stark interaction. There are two limiting cases for such wave packets. The first is a Raman-type coupling, illustrated by the creation of field-free molecular axis alignment. An experimental demonstration is given. The second case is that of dipole-type coupling, illustrated by the creation of charge localization in an array of quantum wells