Site Event/Activity record ECH3758 - Report on an Archaeological Watching Brief at J Sainsburys, 100 Church Street, Warrington

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken during groundworks in advance of development on the Sainsburys site at 100 Church Street, Warrington. The monitored area measured circa 75m by 35m extending northwards from Church Street to School Brow in the north and Eldon Street to the east. In 1880, the site was occupied by a Wire Works. The monitoring revealed the remains of brick built buildings with basements and a brick surface. Sub-surface deposits included silts containing nineteenth century ceramic fragments and sandy-silts containing charcoal fragments and ceramics dating to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Two phases of activity were identified. The brick built structures in the north part of the site coincided with buildings related to the Wire Works depicted on the 1880 OS map. Some of the deposits containing the seventeenth and eighteenth century pottery were garden soils from the site's use as an orchard/cultivated land. (1)