Find Spot record 177/1/3 - Roman pottery and silver denarius, St Anne's Lane

<1> 1991, Roman Remains from St Anne's Lane, Nantwich (Finds report) (Unpublished Report). SCH7363.

Discussion of Roman finds/deposits discovered during the construction of a bungalow, Davelynn House, St Anne's Lane. These include an urned cremation burial and a quernstone found in 1982 (CHER 177/1/1); also a 2nd century AD timber plank-lined pit in 1985 (CHER 177/1/2).

After the excavation of the plank-lined pit, a further visit to the site was made during the excavation of a foundation trench for the house in 1985; this produced 365 sherds of Roman pottery including Samian, Nene Valley ware, Severn Valley ware Black-burnished ware, Cheshire coarse ware, mortaria and amphorae. There was also a silver denarius of Trajan dated to 116 AD. The Samian is mostly Central Gaulish ware of the 2nd century AD, representing some 29 vessels. Almost 40% of the group consists of the coarse local wares, with Severn Valley and Black-burnished wares representing 20% each. In 1988 another visit to the site was made as further finds of pottery were made from an area in front of the bungalow. Topsoil existed to a depth of 1.05m and overlay a layer of coarse, grey, silty sand, from which the finds were recovered. This layer, up to 0.3m deep, contained a lot of charcoal, burnt bone fragments, burnt daub and fired clay fragments. Pottery was concentrated in the central area of the hole and the cutting back of the north section confirmed this. The sherds were large and unsoiled and came from the same range of wares as the material collected in 1985. Below the grey layer was the natural buff, silty sand. The pottery dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Most of the finds are residual apart from the cremation and plank-lined pit; it is unlikely that St. Anne's Lane was an area of Roman settlement which probably lay on the opposite side of the river. The presence of cremations, burnt bone and charcoal suggests an extra-mural Roman cemetery, whilst the presence of briquetage in the pottery, the timber-lined tank and the proximity of the site to salt pans suggest it was an area of salt works.