Monument record 14019 - Mid Eighteenth/Early Nineteenth Century Cobbled Yard/Workshop/Stable, North of Brook Street, Neston

<1> AOC Archaeology Group, 2009, Land Between Brook Street and Raby Road, Neston, Cheshire: A Post-Excavation Assessment Report, R4056 (Client Report). SCH8306.

Following on from an archaeological evaluation in 2008 (ECH4507), an excavation was undertaken in 2009 on land between Brook Street and Raby Road, Neston, prior to re-development of the site. Features recorded included a mid eighteenth or early nineteenth century enclosed cobbled yard, or potentially a workshop or stable, located in the south-east part of the site. It comprised truncated red sandstone walls enclosing a tightly packed, rectangular (3.51m by 2.76m), cobbled surface with a central pad of fired red bricks (1.17m by 1.00m). Both wall and cobbles were truncated by later features.

The function of the yard is not obvious from its form. It certainly was an enclosed yard, but it is not known whether it was an external or internal feature. The central brick pad could have been a base for machinery, suggesting a function as a workshop, but perhaps more likely, is that it was an external yard, perhaps situated at the rear of a building fronting onto Brook Street, although later development has removed any trace of the potential building.