Site Event/Activity record ECH6277 - Archaeological Monitoring and recording. New Dwelling and garage on land adjacent to Lion House, Tattenhall

Planning permission (ref. 15/04748/FUL) for a new dwelling and integral garage has been approved on land adjacent Lion House, Tattenhall Road, Tattenhall, Cheshire.. Finds of Roman pottery and painted wall plaster from elsewhere within the village, particularly within the grounds of the church of St. Alban, hint at the presence of a possible Roman villa site (see Axworthy-Rutter 1982; Cootes 2009). Recent observations on the nearby Rectory site did not reveal any trace of archaeology (M Leah; pers comm.) but it was considered prudent to undertake a precautionary archaeological watching brief during the initial groundworks associated with the current development. The archaeological monitoring took place on the 11th July 2016. In order to expedite the archaeological monitoring and in an attempt to maximize the potential recovery of archaeological information, a linear trial trench was rapidly machine-excavated along the northwest edge of the development plot (Figure 1 and Plate 2). Although the ground in this location had already been largely stripped of topsoil, sufficient remained to make this a useful exercise. The remaining topsoil measured no more than c. 0.10m thick and lay directly above the natural reddish brown sandy-clay natural drift geology. No features, deposits or finds of archaeological significance were encountered within the trial trench. Mechanical excavation of the main, wider foundation trenches to the new dwelling was monitored closely for signs of significant archaeology. The trenches were excavated to a general depth of c. 1.20m below current ground level, with each trench measuring c. 0.80m wide. No archaeological features, deposits or finds were encountered during the monitoring of the foundation trenches. A single broad and shallow feature containing a fill of grey clay-silt, capped with redeposited natural clean clay, was noted within the trench excavated for the southwestern foundations; this was deemed to be of no archaeological significance and is interpreted here as a probable pond, pool or similar semi-natural landscape feature