Site Event/Activity record ECH3433 - The Archaeological Implications of the Redevelopment of the Greenall Whitley Brewery Site at Wilderspool, Warrington.

Initial archaeological evaluation undertaken between March and May 1991 in advance of the redevelopment of the Greenall Brewery site (see also source 2). It comprised a desk-based assessment and a total of 17 manually excavated trial pits each 2m square. Results were used to develop a mitigation strategy for redevelopment of the site. The area is known to have been settled in the Roman period through previous excavations and chance Roman finds, although canal building operations, together with the industrial and residential expansion of Warrington over the last 200 years have transformed the area. The Brewery site has been regarded as the core of the Roman settlement and, as such, was scheduled. The trial trenches avoided the scheduled area and were targeted in three zones - the north bank of the River Mersey (trial pits 8-13); the north side of Greenall's Avenue along the putative lip of the south bank of the river (trial pits 2, 4-7, 14) to identify Roman quayside installations; and the area lying to the west of the scheduled area (trial pits 1, 3, 15-17); this was a previously unexplored area. The purpose of the trial pits was to identify areas of remaining archaeological deposits and assess the threat posed to them by the proposed redevelopment. Roman deposits were found in just one test pit, TP1, comprising a line of sandstone blocks, potentially foundations to a timber building, and possible traces of clay flooring. The finds, predominantly pottery sherds, are stored in Warrington Museum. (1) This initial evaluation in 1991 was the first in a programme of watching briefs and excavations undertaken as part of the mitigation during the development of the brewery site. See attached ('grouped') events for links to the work that followed. Brief for archaeological work at Greenall Whitley's Brewery Site, including an overview of previous archaeological interventions and discoveries. Labelled confidential, but gives useful overview of potential of the site and backgound information for the archaeological work undertaken in the 1990s by Giffords as follows:- As part of a company rationalisation, Greenall Whitley Plc closed the Wilderspool Brewery and redeveloped the site for a mixture of residential, leisure and other uses (including construction of a Morrison's store). The brewery was closed in 1991 and phased demolition of the buildings ensued. Greenall Whitley supported a programme of archaeological mitigation between 1991-5, led by consultant archaeologist, Tim Strickland (Giffords Consulting Engineers), also Ian Rogers. Part of the area is scheduled and some of the brewery buildings are Grade II Listed. (2) Newspaper articles, two dating to 1993, one to 1995, concerning the programme of archaeological work undertaken at the Greenall Brewery Site during redevelopment work in the early 1990s. (3) Popular publication (1995) authored by Tim Strickland and published by Greenall's giving an interpretation of Roman Wilderspool partly based on the excavated evidence generated from the excavations in the early 1990s. (4) BAR publication (2007) co-authored by Ian Rogers again giving an interpretation of Roman Wilderspool using the excavated evidence. The article was given a poor review (in Britannia, Vol 41, Nov 2010, p.496-497) due to lack of fundamental archaeological data presented to support interpretations given. (5) The excavation archive resulting from the Greenall Brewery mitigation is stored in Warrington Museum.