Site Event/Activity record ECH6767 - Land off Viking Way, Congleton, Cheshire: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment

An archaeological desk-based assessment was prepared in 2019 for a 23.6ha parcel of land off Viking Way, Congleton, Cheshire which is allocated for an extension to the Congleton Business Park. The assessment has established that there are no designated heritage assets located within the study site. A Bronze Age spearhead and Iron Age sickle have previously been found within the west and centre of the study site. The sickle represents a rare find in Britain and these are mainly found through metal detection or accidental discoveries. An association between these finds and settlement or funerary activity has never been tested through archaeological investigation. It is also currently unknown whether these finds were originally buried in shallow archaeological features that have been lost to ploughing or whether there is simply an enhanced potential for further similar finds to be made from the topsoil. It is also possible that they represent higher status objects from settlement or funerary activity within the study site. This assessment considers there to be a high potential for late Prehistoric archaeological evidence within the study site. Field name evidence suggests the presence of a well in the north of the study site. However, no maps were identified which might corroborate this which suggests that there may have been an historic well in this area. The 1873 Ordnance Survey depicts a well in the west of the study site which was no longer depicted on subsequent mapping. Field name evidence also suggests the potential for archaeological remains of a dovecote within the centre of the study site. (1)