Site Event/Activity record ECH3674 - Final Report on an Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Halewood Closure Project, Lancashire/Cheshire

An assessment of the proposed route for the construction of a sludge main between Shell Green and Halewood and a trunk main between Halewood and Speke. The assessment indicated that the landscape of the proposed pipeline corridor is the result of millennia of human activity and occupation and physical remains of archaeological import have been recorded in the area dating to the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Romano-British, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, post Medieval and modem periods. The proposed route of the pipeline however did not impact upon any known features or deposits of archaeological interest. The eastern portion of the proposed pipeline route from its eastern terminal to the Ditton Sleeper Depot, lay within a developed industrial landscape, in which there is no potential for archaeological implications arising from pipeline construction. Previous groundworks in this area associated with existing structures and landscaping for domestic and industrial buildings and the rail and road infrastructure are likely to have disturbed or removed any archaeological deposits or features that may have been present. However, Roman artefacts were found in association with the preserved timbers of an 'ancient' (probably Roman) well to the south of the proposed route at Ditton Sleeper Depot. A well suggests adjacent settlement although there are no identified Roman settlement sites within the area of the proposed development. Nevertheless the Roman artefacts detected immediately south of the proposed route suggest a moderate potential for Roman archaeological deposits close to line of the proposed route of the pipeline in the vicinity of Ditton Station. (1) The western portion of the proposed pipeline route, from the Ditton Sleeper Depot to the Ramsbrook Bridge Water Treatment Works traversed open ground under an agricultural regime. To the north and south of the proposed route of the pipeline the surrounding open land has been intensively field-walked by the Mersyside Archaeological Society and has produced considerable numbers of multi-period artefacts. Meanwhile the central area, through which the pipeline passes, has been relatively devoid of previous archaeological investigation. Given the clustering of artefacts scatters, sites of habitation and known activity to either side of the proposed route, this area is identified as one of moderate archaeological potential.