Site Event/Activity record ECH3962 - Residential Development on Land at 'The Lamb Inn', Cheshire Street, Audlem: A Report on the Archaeological Investigations Undertaken During March 2000

An archaeological excavation was undertaken in March 2000 on land at 'The Lamb Inn', Cheshire Street, Audlem. Work comprised a full area excavation on the rear terrace, together with a watching brief during groundworks in the street frontage area. The site lies adjacent to the Chruch of St. James and within the historic core of the medieval town of Audlem. The results of trial trenching on the site in 1999 (ECH3775) showed that both medieval and post medieval features and deposits survived on site to the rear of the street frontage. The results of the investigations in 2000 have confirmed the existance of significant features. Beneath a considerable soil overburden, the remains of a medieval corn-drying kiln were identified. The dryer contained a well preserved layer of carbonised grain within its fills; radiocarbon dating of this material indicated a fourteenth or fifteenth century date. Also an east-west aligned, post medieval property boundary bisected the site; finds date this feature to the late seventeenth/early eighteenth century. The later post medieval and early modern periods were represented by largely random distributions of post holes, thought to represent ephemeral timber structures and possible fence lines of uncertain form and function. (1)