Monument record 1080/0/122 - Brine Evaporating Hearth, North of Holmes Chapel Road, Middlewich

<1> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2018, Land at Holmes Chapel Road, Middlewich, Cheshire: An Archaeological Watching Brief, R4235 (Client Report). SCH8572.

A brine evaporating hearth was recorded during a watching brief in 2018 on groundworks on land north of Holme Chapel Road, Middlewich. The hearth comprised a long cut into the natural geology to a depth of 0.40m and positioned on a north-west/south-east alignment . The trough contained baked red clay with a lens of charcoal towards the base, along with fragments of briquetage (fired-clay hearth furntiture). A sherd of Mancetter-hartshill mortarium, dating to the mid-second century of later, was recovered from the disturbed fill of the hearth. A pit, measuring over 1.50m wide and up to 1.0m deep, located to the south-west of the hearth, contained flecks of charcoal and fragments of burnt clay, suggestng that it was contemporary with the hearth. The find of the brine hearth is significant as salt production in the Roman period is well attested in Middlewich.