Monument record 5056 - The Hollow Way at Oversley Farm

Excavation at Oversley Farm 1997-1998 in advance of runway expansion at Manchester Airport

An exceptional factor related to the Oversley site was the presence of the thoroughfare that had survived from the prehistoric to the present day. Routes are significant in chronicling landscape development but are usually difficult to date. The hollow way was initially identified as a linear hollow, yielding Bronze Age pottery, running along the western edge of the excavation, against the line of the Altringham Road. Since this hollow began to accumulate deposits and features during the Early Bronze Age phase of the site it was probably in use as a route in the Neolithic period.
The hollow way comprised of a shallow linear depression, c7.5m wide and 0.5m deep, which ran on an approximate north-to-south alignment for the entire western edge of the excavation site (c. 300m). The feature survived to varying degrees along it's length with several areas eroded by ploughing. Survival was greatest towards the middle and northern half of the site, where an uninterrupted length of some 75m was recorded. In this area a patchy metalled surface covered by primary silting deposits was identified, which was cut by EBA pits in several places. Despite this activity the hollow way continued in use and was resurfaced toward the end of this period. No direct evidence was found for the hollow way in the late prehistoric, however, deposits were thought to have continued to accumulate inferring continued use of the route.

In the mid-late-second century the route is thought to have been adopted as a Roman road. Although this road respects the earlier prehistoric hollow way its alignment suggests that it might be part of a postulated route running between Middlewich and Manchester.

In effect this section of the road continued to be used until the destruction of this stretch of the route in 1997,prior to the build of Manchester Airport's second runway.

<1> D J Garner, 2007, The Neolithic and Bronze Age Settlement at Oversley Farm, Styal, Cheshire (Book). SCH5392.