Site Event/Activity record ECH6484 - Archaeological Evaluation Report: Ledsham Road, Ellesmere Port

Archaeological trial trenches were excavated in August 2017 in adavance of the development of a residential area, consisting of around 1500 dwellings, 400 sqm of retail floor space for a local shop, a new primary school, a community building, a new linear car park, playing fields and other public open space, new allotment, together with new accesses, streets and other related infrastructure. The 2017 archaeological evaluation followed on from a Phase 1 evaluation conducted in February 2016 (ECH6173). Three trenches were excavated to the south of Sutton Hall Farm but no archaeological finds or features were exposed within these trenches. In this area of the site the soils have been extensively cultivated and the bedrock lies at a higher elevation, these conditions have the potential to remove any archaeological resource should any have been present, however with a lack of even residual finds that circumstance is unlikely. Two further trenches were excavated to the north of Sutton Hall Farm and both contained features, including ditches and post holes possibly representative of former field boundaries. The ditches uncovered in Trench 8 contained finds of Post Medieval date, these do not align with the boundaries recorded through map regression so have the potential to pre-date the 1849 tithe map. No dating evidence was recovered from the ditches exposed in Trench 7, but again these do not align with the boundaries recorded through map regression exercise so may represent earlier activity. (1)