Monument record 14058 - Excavated Early Medieval Drainage Ditches, Kingsley Fields, Reaseheath

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2017, Kingsley Fields, Reaseheath, Nantwich, Cheshire: Strip, Map and Record Report, R4074, p.17 (Client Report). SCH8331.

As part of a continuing programme of archaeological evaluation on land at Kingsley Fields, Reaseheath, Nantwich, a strip, map and record was undertaken in 2017 on an area of land 0.6ha in size. The area encompassed three previous trial trenches (trench 2, 5 and 6) excavated in May 2016 (ECH6308), although, in the event, the area around trench 5 was omitted due to the presence of overhead power lines. The aim of this evaluation was to further understand the character and extent of archaeology identified in trench 2 in 2016 - three ditches producing Roman pottery of first to third century date and then interpreted as a possible trackway. These ditches were further examined in 2017 and instead interpreted as natural linear depressions which had been formalised into drainage ditches, funnelling water to a larger natural dip, and to the northern side of the site, where it could flow into the stream bordering the eastern edge of the site. As part of the 2017 evaluation, a paleao-environmental sample was taken from one of the ditches (ditch 162) and organic material contained in the sample was radio-carbon dated, producing dates of 691-886calAD and 732-892calAD. The breakdown of the probabilities for each sample suggests that here is a 70.4% and 94.9% chance that the material accumulated after 761calAD and 769calAD respectively, indicating that the drainage ditches were of early medieval date.