Site Event/Activity record ECH6435 - Supervised Metal Detecting Survey. Valley Court Phase 2, Sanderson Way, Middlewich

Archaeologically supervised metal detector survey as a condition of a full planning permission. As part of the construction of up to 7 new B1, B2 and B8 units with associated access road, service yards, car parks and landscaping known as Valley Court Phase. The proposed development site comprises a c.1.8 hectare sized field off Sanderson Way, Middlewich, Cheshire. Sixty percent of all of the artefacts recovered during the metal detector survey were undateable sherds of miscellaneous lead with an even distribution spread across the survey area. This material may have been deposited through medieval and post-medieval farming activity, although recent nearby development and modern dumping at the site are also a possibility. The oldest artefacts recovered from the site were two lead spindle whorls (find nos. 19 and 43) and a piece of degraded pottery (find no. 54), all believed to be from the medieval period. A lozenge-shaped copper alloy plate decorated with a star (find no.53) and most likely a plate from a horse harness is also possibly medieval in date. All of these artefacts are associated with agriculture or crafts and the low frequency and portability of these finds are indicative of the type of artefacts associated with the general labour force working in the fields, as opposed to a fixed occupation site. Aside from undateable artefacts the periods most commonly represented within the material archive are the post-medieval and modern periods, which account for eighty percent of all of the dateable artefacts recovered. Six of these artefacts (30%) are copper alloy coins constituting four half-pennies (find no. 2, 10, 23, 42), one farthing (find no. 28), and a modern Hungarian Forint (find no. 33). All of the coins were too corroded to read aside from one of the half-pennies (find no. 10) dated 1861, and the modern Forint dated 2008. With the exception of the modern Forint, it is likely that these coins were lost by agricultural farm workers. Other finds of note included a decorated copper alloy tobacco crusher with integrated tamper (find no. 3) of probable late 18th Century date; a small silver brooch (find no. 32) hallmarked with Birmingham Valley Court Phase 2 – Aeon Archaeology report 0128 Page 8 1915-1916; a piece of lead window flashing (find no. 40); an undecorated copper alloy button (find no. 51); and a modern tin-plated bracelet (find no. 52).