Site Event/Activity record ECH6509 - Saighton Carpark, Saighton, Chester: Archaeological Watching Brief

Archaeological watching brief undertaken in February 2018 during groundworks associated with creating a new car park, entrance/exit to the car park and access road for the village of Saighton and the adjacent primary school. The watching brief area consisted of a paddock that had been divided into two plots prior to the mid-20th century, with some evidence of hardstanding and modern activity in the north-east corner of the site. This area has been known as Smithy Croft since at least the mid-19th century, but this name may be earlier in origin. In medieval times Saighton was a monastic grange (directly managed working estate farm), of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Webergh, Chester, and this would have included Smithy Croft. The survival of potentially medieval ridge and furrow ploughing at Smithy Croft suggests that the paddock is likely to have been put mainly to agricultural use since medieval times without excessive subsequent disturbance. After the reformation it passed through a number of hands. It subsequently was obtained by the Grosvenor family, Marquises and later Dukes of Westminster. The significant archaeology present on the site consisted of the remains of ridge and furrow ploughing. These features had been surveyed prior to the carrying out of the watching brief. No features of any earlier than medieval date were identified during the watching brief. The archaeological watching of the topsoil strip retrieved pottery sherds of 19th and 20th century date but did not identify archaeological deposits or any new archaeological features. (1)