Monument record 436/1/19 - King Street - Excavated Ditch to the West of the Roman Road

<1> Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1997, Gadbrook Park, Cheshire: Archaeological Evaluation, R2161 (Client Report). SCH4054.

Excavations in 1996 to the west of King Street at Gadbrook Park recorded a ditch, running parallel to and circa 3m away from, the line of the Roman road. The ditch was detected in three separate trenches making it at least 225m in length, with a width of circa 3.32m and depth of 0.91m.

<2> National Museums Liverpool, 2004, An Archaeological Watching Brief at A530/B5309, King Street, Middlewich, Cheshire., R2505 (Client Report). SCH4530.

In 2004, approximately 500m to the south of the 1997 trial trenches, an archaeological watching brief was undertaken on seven test pits excavated for a stretch of circa 5 km along the line of the A530/King Street. The test pits were dug to determine the state of the current carriageway and there were hopes that traces of the Roman surface might survive beneath the modern road. In all cases modern make up was seen to overlie natural deposits and no evidence for the survival of Roman road fabric was detected. The report concludes that since the Roman road's construction in around 90 AD it is possible that the continued widening and re-surfacing of the road over some 2000 years has contributed to the severe truncation and destruction of earlier deposits. Materials such as stone setts and gravels may have been re-used elsewhere due to the scarcity of such material in the area.