Site Event/Activity record ECH2576 - King Street, Middlewich, Cheshire: Report on an Archaeological Evaluation (Stage 4)

Continuation in 1994 of an archaeological evaluation initiated in 1993 on land proposed for a residential development on Harbutt's Field and OS Field 2981 immediately to the south. The 1993 evaluation located the remains of a Roman fort/temporary camp through geophysical survey and subsequent trial-trenching, some trenches were also excavated in Field 2981 with little result. In 1994 twelve further trenches were excavated in Field 2981 and its border with Field 2672 immediately to the south; seven further trenches were dug in the land to the east of the fort and west of the railway line. The only features of archaeological interest found in this phase of work lay on the boundary between fields 2981 and 2672; here three trenches provided evidence of ditches and a pit/pond thought to be of Roman date. In most of the evaluation trenches a plough soil earlier than the present topsoil was identified, this probably relates to the last time the soil was ploughed, most likely no earlier than the nineteenth century. (1)