Site Event/Activity record ECH6624 - Chester Road, Huntington, Cheshire: Archaeological Watching Brief

A watching brief was undertaken in four phases between May and September 2018 at 97-99 Chester Road, Huntington, CH3 6BH, during development works including the demolition of a garage and erection of a care home with associated infrastructure. Phases 1 and 3 involved monitoring of the excavation for strip foundations, while Phases 2 and 4 included monitoring of the stripping of larger areas, also the excavation of a basement area at the centre of the site and the attenuation tanks. Stratigraphy across this site comprised between 0.5 and 2.5m of mottled brown red clay silt made ground which contained building rubble and overlay the natural subsoil (a brown red clay silt). Much of the made ground appeared to comprise the surrounding subsoil mixed with building rubble suggesting the site may have been heavily landscaped during previous phases of development. Prior to these excavation works the site was relatively flat and sat at between 20m and 20.5m AOD. Natural subsoil was observed at between approximately 17.5m and 20m AOD. The original level appeared to be between 19.5m and 20m AOD. The site was particularly disturbed at the south-east of the site where remedial works relating to contamination had previously taken place. There was further disturbance at the north-west of the site where oil tanks were identified and removed. No features of archaeological features were observed during these works. (1)