Site Event/Activity record ECH7091 - Archaeological Excavation Report: A Strip, Map and Record and Watching Brief at the Royal Arcade, Crewe, Cheshire

An archaeological excavation and watching brief was undertaken in 2022 at the Royal Arcade, Crewe, as a condition of planning consent for the development of a new bus station. The site is located in the former medieval township of Monks Coppenhall, mentioned in Domesday Book under the lands of William Malbank. Medieval settlements such as these are typically dispersed and this is reflected in the 1839 Tithe Map of Monks Coppenhall. The strip, map and record methodology entailed the excavation of a 20m x 10m area of grass verge in Area 1, at the north-western extent of the scheme. Further archaeological monitoring was undertaken in Area 2, during demolition of the bus depot at the southern end of the site. A series of brick foundations, which once formed part of a block of five terraced houses and the remains of their associated yards and outhouses were identified in Area 1, representing the remains of railway workers’ housing built sometime before 1876 and demolished between 1947 and 1960. There was an absence of archaeological remains in Area 2, suggesting that the foundations for the terraced housing in this area of the site had been destroyed during construction of the bus station in the 1960s. (1)