Site Event/Activity record ECH3450 - Excavation: Stockton Heath - Area A

A series of trial excavations was carried out at Stockton Heath by the Liverpool University Rescue Archaeology Unit in advance of building development. Two areas were investigated: Area A (SJ 6130 8627) in the car park of shopping precinct and playground of the now demolished St Thomas' School. Excavations to the east of this area by Thomas May between 1901-4 had uncovered a Romano-British industrial complex. Area B was a triangle of land bounded by the Manchester Ship Canal, the Bridgewater Canal and the course of the Lumb Brook. A Romano-British stone building had been found to the north of this area in 1930 (Fairclough 1931) and, to the north-east, a small Romano-British settlement was excavated in 1976 (Hinchcliffe and Williams). Also, in 1976, a Roman lead coffin was found in the side of the Manchester Ship Canal (Hinchcliffe and Williams). Neither excavation located any Romano-British features. In several cases the subsoil had been disturbed probably by earlier quarrying activity. Three sherds of Romano-British pottery were found in Area A and were probably the products of local kilns. A flint leaf-shaped arrowhead and a flint flake were found in unstratified contexts in Area B.