Site Event/Activity record ECH7041 - A500 M6 to A5020 Improvement: Detailed gradiometer survey report

A detailed gradiometer survey was conducted over land bordering the A500 located between the M6 and the A5020 in Cheshire in support of a planning application for improvements to the A500. An area of 16.5 ha of land was suitable for survey which was was undertaken between 22 and 31 January 2018. Although the survey did not identify any anomalies that can be interpreted as definite archaeological features, it has identified some which could be archaeological in origin. These occur throughout much of the survey area as discrete positive anomalies, but are most prominent in frequency and size in Area 2 and 20. It is possible that these anomalies relate to extraction pits, examples of which are recorded on historic OS mapping. However, they could equally relate to natural changes in the highly variable superficial geological deposits across the survey area. Evidence of a sand pit recorded on mapping can be seen in the data from Area 12, where an increased magnetic response corresponds to the backfilling of the pit with a foreign material. Many anomalies and trends can be attributed to the historic landscape which is noted to be largely agricultural dating to the medieval or post-medieval period. These are extensive in Area 2, 4, 7, 8, and 11. Former field boundaries, evidence of cultivation that may be historic in origin, and other historic land use are visible in the results in these areas. Area 11 in particular shows clear evidence of historic land division and land use. (1)