Snow Hill Nantwich, Cheshire Desk-Based Assessment

In June 2007, Building Design Partnership (BDP) commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) to carry out an archaeological desk-based assessment of an area known as Snow Hill in Nantwich, Cheshire (centred at SJ 6496 5254). The study area lies on the fringe of the historic core of the medieval town centre, and incorporates known buried archaeological remains of considerable importance. Previous archaeological work at Snow Hill and the surrounding area has demonstrated that this part of Nantwich contains well-preserved buried remains of Roman and medieval date, representing one of the most important archaeological sites in the county outside of Cheshire.

The desk-based assessment has concluded that there are no known archaeological sites within the proposed Scheme Area that may be considered as being of National importance, which would merit preservation in-situ. However, it has been demonstrated that the Scheme Area has a considerable potential to contain buried archaeological remains of Regional/County significance. In particular, waterlogged remains of Roman and medieval salt-working activity may survive across the site, although these are likely to be beneath a thick deposit of made ground, providing an opportunity for their preservation in-situ. Any damage or destruction of these deposits as part of the proposed development would require a robust archaeological mitigation strategy and, w Wherever possible, engineered solutions should be designed to avoid a negative impact on areas of high archaeological potential.