Orchard Mount, Chorlton Fold, Eccles, Greater Manchester- Evaluation

Salford City Council has proposed to sell for redevelopment Orchard Mount, a former school in Monton, Greater Manchester (SJ 7696 9994). The site occupied part of a hamlet known as Chorlton Fold, and potentially contained buried remains of the Manchester to Wigan Roman road. Recent investigations on an adjacent development site, on the opposite side of Chorlton Fold Lane, revealed the remains of a medieval ditch, iron smelting debris (probably of the same date), and the footings of Rose Cottage, which had early post-medieval origins (UMAU 2007). There was no evidence for the Roman road at that site, and it was concluded that the course may well be further west within Orchard Mount. Previous archaeological investigations undertaken to the west of Orchard Mount by the Ellesmere Residents Association, aided by Wigan Archaeological Society, revealed a well preserved section of the Roman road in Ellesmere Park (Rabbit 2005). In addition, there was considered to be some potential for the buried remains of one, if not two, Roman road alignments under the existing farmstead at Chorlton Fold.
In light of these factors, the Assistant County Archaeologist for Greater Manchester recommended that an archaeological evaluation was required in advance of any future development of the Orchard Mount site, in order to establish the presence or absence of buried archaeological remains. In particular, it was intended that an evaluation would establish the presence or absence of both the Roman road between the settlements at Manchester and Wigan, and a putative north branch route believed to follow a similar course to the modern A6.
In June 2007, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by Urban Vision Partnership Ltd to carry out the recommended programme of evaluation at Orchard Mount. Five trenches of varying lengths were excavated around the former school building. No identifiable Roman or medieval remains were encountered during any part of the investigation, although several foundations of buildings associated with Orchard House, a post-medieval farm complex, were exposed along the eastern side of the site within Trenches 1, 2 and 3. Several sherds of pottery dating from at least the 16th century were recovered from subsoil deposits, which imply some activity in the area during the later medieval period. The absence of any significant archaeological features on the site, however, indicated that the redevelopment of the site would have a negligible archaeological impact, and it is not envisaged that any further investigation will be required.