Land Off Pipit Avenue, Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside. Archaeological watching Brief.

Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by Wainhomes (Northwest) Ltd to carry out an archaeological investigation of a proposed residential development on land off Pipit Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside (centred on
NGR SJ 5830 9530). The proposed development site is positioned immediately to the north of the Liverpool and Manchester railway line. The site is bounded to the north
by modern residential development and is bounded to the east by allotments. The archaeological investigation revealed that the majority of the site had once been referred to as a ‘Big Sand Yard’ on the 1839 Tithe map.
Current Ordnance Survey mapping shows the east side of the proposed development site lies immediately to the west of the presumed course of the Wigan to Wilderspool
Roman road. Previous investigations along the route of this road have shown its position to differ from the course mapped by the Ordnance Survey. Therefore, there is
a possibility that the road may lie within the outlined development site. Consequently, an archaeological programme of work was requested by Merseyside Archaeological Service (MAS) in order to identify and characterise deposits or features of archaeological significance that might be impacted upon.