Site Event/Activity record ECH3919 - Former ERF Sun Works, Middlewich Road, Sandbach: Report of an Archaeological Watching Brief

Following on from the production of a desk-based assessment (ECH3923/R2422/SCH4402), an archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2001 on the site of the former ERF Sun Works, Sandbach. The watching brief observed the removal of covering concrete hard standing and subsequent groundworks of the eastern half of the development area, also, in the north-eastern corner. The only remains recorded related to nineteenth/twentieth century building remains. These included a deep cellar on the site of a former sawmill which could be part of the engine house, no other remains of the sawmill survived. The foundations of a large house known as 'The Cottage' were revealed in the north-east quarter of the site. Also, the foundations of a small, well-built, late nineteenth century building 20m south of the Middlewich Road frontage, north-west of 'The Cottage'; this building appears on the 1909 OS map and is thought to be a cottage/lodge within the curtilage of 'The Cottage'. Additionally, several areas of the development site had been used for dumping of nineteenth and early twentieth century pottery fragments, glass and demolistion material. (1)