Oxford Archaeology (OA) North were commissioned by Russell Homes to undertake a watching brief at the site of a housing development off New Road (A58), Littleborough, Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The work took place over 5 days between 14TH November 2019 and 16th April 2020, and was focused on an area measuring approximately 0.9ha located along the northeastern perimeter of the wider development. Unfortunately, a large amount of the topsoil strip within the monitoring area was undertaken without OA Norths knowledge and therefore without archaeological monitoring. Parts of the area were subsequently used for spoil storage and the construction of a haulage road. In an attempt to compensate for this oversight, spoil bunds within the area were cleared and the area was again subject to mechanical cleaning of the exposed natural surfaces. No archaeological remains were observed during the watching brief exercise.