Site Event/Activity record ECH6588 - Macclesfield Town Hall Car Park Archaeological Excavations

During September and October 1987 a five week archaeological excavation of seventy-five square metre was undertaken in the open area of the Town Hall car park by Martin Connell of the University of Liverpool Field Archaeology Unit for Cheshire County Council and Macclesfield Borough Council in order to establish if any medieval remains had survived below ground, prior to plans to redevelop the area. Labour was provided by a Countryside and Recreation, Manpower Services Commission team. The site was located to the north east of the centre of the medieval Borough, 70m north of the medieval church, just north of the medieval Guildhall believed to have been on the site of the present Town Hall, and adjacent to the medieval market at the junction between Chestergate and Mill Street. It includes the site of the eighteenth century Shambles, the old butchers' market with access provided to the market place through Unicorn Gateway. The aim of the excavation was to examine an area where evidence of burgage plots extending eastwards from Jordangate may have survived behind the presumed street frontage.