Site Event/Activity record ECH6594 - Land at Blackham Reclamation, Newton By Tattenhall, Cheshire. CH3 9QQ: Archaeological Evaluation

Archaeological trial trenching was undertaken in 2018 in advance of the development of land located to the south of, and including, Blackham Reclamation Yard, Tattenhall road, Newton By Tattenhall. Fifteen trenches were excavated as part of the evaluation. These showed that the centre of the enclosed field to the south of the reclamation yard had been previously disturbed through the excavation of a large pit, possibly for clay extraction, which had then been infilled with post-medieval/modern building materials. The remaining trenches showed that the rest of the enclosed field had not been disturbed previously, and the relatively shallow topsoil and subsoil depths indicated that it had not been extensively cultivated either although plough-scars were observed within some of the trenches during excavation. In addition, a series of gullies were identified within trenches 7-9, 13 and 14 which likely represent former field boundaries or drainage gullies. None of these gullies are shown on the Tattenhall tithe map of c.1838 or on any of the following Ordnance Survey maps, suggesting that they are either of an earlier date or were simply too ephemeral to depict. Very little dating evidence was recovered from the gully features with the exception of within trench 7 where a gulley was cut through by a ceramic field-drain of probable 19th Century date; and within trenches 9 and 13 where both gullies produced fragments of red-brick. On the balance of evidence this would suggest that the features represent former post-medieval drainage gullies, although other interpretations are possible such as the boundaries of former medieval / post-medieval strip-fields or indeed surviving furrows from medieval / post-medieval ridge and furrow farming. The evaluation trenches within the existing reclamation yard showed that the area had previously been stripped on to the natural glacial substrata in the post-medieval / modern period and as such had removed any potential for the preservation of any earlier remains, although structural remains associated with the post-medieval railway yard cannot be discounted. The only targeted trench (trench 1) failed to find any evidence of the field boundaries depicted on the Tattenhall tithe map of c.1838 and it may be that these existed as hedgerows rather than banks or ditches. Another possible explanation is that the trench was positioned in the wrong place due to inaccuracies within the tithe map itself, although if this was the case it is likely that trenches 2, 5 or 6 would have intercepted the field boundary remains if they existed. (1)