Site Event/Activity record ECH4002 - Geophysical Survey Report. Middlewich Eastern Bypass, Cheshire.

Geophysical survey, undertaken in March 2003, as part of a wider archaeological evaluation (see ECH3985) for the route of a proposed new by-pass running from the A533 south of Middlewich at New Farm northwards to a new industrial estate lying to the south of the A54. There is little known archaeology along the proposed road corridor, although the line of King Street Roman road lies less than 1km to the west. A small complex of responses close to New Farm indicate the presence of a potential rectangular enclosure with numerous ditches and pits. Further north the survey detected some linear anomalies which may be archaeological in origin; a sinuous feature was also detected but may represent an old stream bed. Parallel anomalies may represent ploughing. (1) The geophysical survey detailed above was used as a case study in a project, undertaken in 2007 by David Jordan, investigating the effectiveness of geophysical surveys carried out for archaeological site evaluation in the North West of England, concentrating on commercial projects since 1990. It gathered information about the methods, sites, natural contexts and outcomes of all surveys for which information was available. It then analysed these data to reach conclusions about the use and effectiveness of such survey in the roles chosen for it. Three case studies were examined in Cheshire - Buckley's Field, Middlewich (2005); Welsh Row, Nantwich (2001); and Middlewich Eastern Bypass (2003). (2)