Kingsley Cottage, Red Lion Lane, Nantwich, Cheshire- Watching Brief

Following proposals by McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Ltd (MSD) for a residential development on the former site of Kingsley Cottage, Kingsley Fields, Nantwich, Cheshire (SJ 647 526), Cheshire County Council Historic Environment Service (CCCHES) requested that a programme of archaeological monitoring should accompany any groundworks, in recognition of the archaeological potential of the site. The development area lies adjacent to a Roman industrial site of national significance excavated in 2001 and 2002 whilst a previous evaluation around Kingsley Cottage identified the presence of a Roman road likely to correspond with a north-west/south-east aligned feature running between the industrial site to the west, and a road identified previously at Wood Street, to the south-east. In 2007 Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by CgMs, on behalf of MSD, to undertake the archaeological watching brief.
The watching brief was carried out in two stages, the first in May 2007 and the second in June and July 2008. Observations in the first phase were limited to a perusal of the site following an extensive site strip, whilst a permanent presence was maintained during the second phase, which involved further site stripping and deeper excavation for footings and crane bases. Stripping revealed extensive deposits of modern made ground and re-deposited material, sealed beneath which were identified a number of archaeological features cutting the natural alluvium. Chief among these was the predicted Roman road, which, although heavily truncated, was likely to date to the second century AD. Although extant for a length of some 17m within the excavated foundation trenches at the southern end of the site, the surface was not consistently exposed in either plan or section. A single pit from which a small assemblage of Roman pottery was recovered was also identified, and may be indicative of low intensity roadside activity: there was nothing akin to the concentration of remains identified to the west in 2001-2, and it seems likely that the present development site falls outside of the Roman industrial zone.