Site Event/Activity record ECH4094 - Land to the rear of Welsh Row, Malbank, Nantwich, Cheshire (also known as Kingsley Fields): Post-Excavation Assessment

Following on from an intial phase of archaeological investigation in 2001 (ECH3940) on land to the rear of Welsh Row, Nantwich, a second phase of archaeological investigations were undertaken in 2002. The agreed strategy of work for this phase was intended the target those areas with the highest archaeological potential. The main excavation site was a large area measuring 85m east-west and 110m north-south and was divided into five parts, in addition four trenches were excavated to the west and north. Two areas were also excavated to the north of this with a further four trenches on the east bank of the river Weaver. Human activity was identified from three broad periods: Roman (second-third century AD), medieval (thirteenth-fifteenth century) and post medieval/modern (seventeenth-twentieth century). Roman period archaeological remains dominated the archaeology present on site, with the discovery of a settlement to the west of the River Weaver sealed beneath circa 0.5m depth of topsoil and subsoil. The settlement largely lay to the west of a north-west to south-east aligned road which had a prolonged period of use and repair. Centrally positioned within the settlement, was a grouping of multi-phase features comprising pits, post holes, hearths, wells, enclosures and structures. The finds recovered suggest the site was occupied during the second and third centuries AD, with the bulk of the finds, being second century in date. Significantly, two large, well-preserved, in situ brine tanks/cisterns were recorded in the south-east of the site, along with a complex of wicker-lined pits, wooden troughs and associated buildings. These features, together with the size and nature of the finds assemblage recovered, clearly demonstrate the presence of an important industrial landscape centred on the exploitation of the natural brine springs of Nantwich, placing it along side Middlewich and Northwich as an important salt-producing town during the Roman period. Situated on the north-west fringes of the settlement was a cremation field dating to the third century AD. The Roman settlement is thought to extend further south beneath the residential area fronting onto Welsh Row. Following the abandonment of the site during the late third century, no archaeological activity was recorded on site until the medieval period, when evidence was found for the agricultural cultivation of the land. Remnant traces of ridge and furrow were observed within the north-west area of the site. This, together with the discovery of probable post holes, pits and a small assemblage of medieval pottery, suggest an agricultural use of the land which continued across the site to the present day. (1-3) NOTE: Interpretation of the excavations at Kingsley Fields changed considerably between the production of the post excavation assessment in 2004 and the published monograph in 2012 (BAR British Series 557, 'Roman Nantwich: A Salt-Making Settlement', Arrowsmith, P & Power D). The latter is the definitive statement of interpretation of the site.