Monument record 7425/1/1 - Roman Road at Kingsley Fields, Nantwich

<1> Arrowsmith, P & Power D., 2012, Roman Nantwich: A Salt-Making Settlement, BAR British Series 557 (Monograph). SCH7339.

Archaeological investigations at Kingsley Fields, Nantwich between 2001 and 2002 uncovered the remains of a Roman settlement with industrial activity and a small cremation cemetery alongside a Roman road. The remains are the first clear evidence of Roman activity in Nantwich associated with the salt-making industry and provide evidence of a road linking the settlement with the main road to the northwest.

The investigations comprised the evaluation of 33 trial trenches and two test pits along with geophysical survey, metal detecting and fieldwalking surveys over a substantial area to the north of Welsh Row in 2001 followed by the more detailed excavation of several area that exhibited strong archaeological potential for Roman remains.

The Roman road was encountered in the main area of excavation and in trench 47 and consisted of the main road surface and drainage ditches on a northwest to southeast alignment across the site. From the main area of excavation, later disturbance had significantly truncated the remains of the road surface; however, both roadside ditches were encountered. Three phases of development were encountered beginning in the late first century with a road some 9.25m wide, narrowing to just 4.5m in the mid second century before shifting south in the later Roman period to become 8.2m wide.

The northern ditch was represented by feature [5154/4153], which probably formed the original north boundary while the south ditch was represented by feature [4094] in the main area of excavation and in trench 47 by feature [8085], giving a road width of approximately 9.25m. In trench 47, the road itself consisted of a road construction cut [8056] 0.27m deep containing a layer of river-worn cobbles adjacent to the south ditch [8085] cut on a northwest to southeast alignment, the original north ditch was not encountered in this trench. A parallel ditch alignment [8071] likely represents phase 2 of the north ditch and the much narrowed road. In the main area of excavation, the north ditch was encountered on a northwest to southeast alignment measuring approximately 1m wide and 0.3m deep and survived for a distance of 28m. It was cut at its most northerly point by a well (CHER 177/2/4). Lying approximately 3.6m to the southwest of the original north ditch, a second ditch [5086/4046] on a parallel alignment was cut at a later date; it measured 0.37m wide and 0.24m deep. The original south ditch was represented by feature [4094], measuring 2.5m wide and 0.8m deep and was encountered for a length of 39m. At a later date a new south ditch was cut [4054/4053/4069].

<2> Nevell, M & Fielding, A., 2005, Brine in Britannia: Recent archaeological work on the Roman salt industry in Cheshire (Monograph). SCH7341.