Site Event/Activity record ECH5892 - An Archaeological Watching Brief at Inveresk Road, Tilston, Cheshire

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2013 at a site adjacent to 2 Greenway, Inveresk Road, Tilston. The work was carried out during groundworks relating to the construction of 37 properties and associated infrastructure works. Topsoil and vegetation strips were monitored along with the excavation of footings, access roads and two environmental mitigation ponds. One evaluation trench was also excavated over the 1.6 hectare site. The archaeological watching brief did not identify any features of archaeological interest; however, frequent pottery fragments were recovered from both the topsoil and subsoil deposits, dating from the post-medieval period, along with one single fragment of Roman pottery. Clay pipe stem fragments were also recovered. The presence of these artefacts, despite not being in secure archaeological contexts or features, indicates past activity at the site. Two possible existing field boundaries were identified at the outset of the project as being potentially medieval in date after Historic Landscape Characterisation of the area. One of the boundaries was located at the very eastern edge of the site and was found to have been impacted on by the previous construction phase of Inveresk Road and Greenway. The remaining boundary was present almost continuously throughout the centre of the site. The two archaeological interventions placed across this field boundary revealed no artefacts and displayed no palaeoenvironmental potential, with a single, sterile fill. The field boundary is present on the 1841 tithe map, hence is undoubtedly well-established, however it is not possible to say whether it may exist from medieval times due to the lack of cultural or dating evidence. (1)