An archaeological watching brief at Paradise Circus, Queensway, Birmingham

An intermittent Archaeological watching brief was conducted on advance trenching and ground works for the Paradise Circus redevelopment scheme by University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) from January to April 2015. The work was carried out on behalf of CgMs Consulting Ltd. The site appears to have been historically little developed until the late 18th / early 19th century until the arrival of the Birmingham and Fazely canal and the subsequent urban expansion of Birmingham in the 1800's. Archaeological monitoring was undertaken of three main areas. Observation of several trial hole excavations on Summer Row revealed only services were at a shallow depth and set into a layer of modern sub-base over 0.5m deep. Ground Reduction works between Summer Row and Sandpits however, revealed areas of surviving 19th century building footprints and yard surfaces along with a back street surface. The deep trenching works in the Sandpits area found some fragments of 19th century building remains at the north-western end of the works (only visible in section) and the remains of the backfilled Newhall branch of the Birmingham and Fazely canal (towards the southern end). The site archive will be held by ULAS under the Site Code ULAS_15339 until a suitable depository is available.