Vale Royal, Cheshire. Archaeological Watching Brief

An archaeological watching brief was carried out by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (LUAU) at Vale Royal, Cheshire (centred NGR SJ 634698), along the corridor of a proposed housing development road. The work was undertaken in July 1997 following the topsoil strip for this access corridor.
A pure stone-free sand was encountered directly below topsoil, comprising a layer in excess of 1.4m depth. Occasional lenses of fine gravel were encountered within the sand, and were more frequent towards the upper levels of low hillocks where the gravel directly underlay the organic topsoil, and filled a series of very shallow natural depressions in the surface of the sand. These deposits were interpreted as of geological origin.
No archaeological features were identified in any of these areas, and no artefacts were recorded.
The present watching brief, in conjunction with the previous archaeological evaluation (LUAU 1997a) in the same area, has not identified a significant archaeological resource within the housing development, to the west of the Great House ha-ha, that will be affected by the proposed development.