Monument record 14957 - Excavated Roman Ditches (Trackway?), Bradford Street, Handbridge

L-P Archaeology, 2019, Archaeological Audit: Bradford Street, Handbridge, R4308 (Client Report). SCH8693.

In 2016, two east-west linear ditches were excavated as part of a strip, map and record of a site behind 6A Bradford Street, Handbridge, prior to proposed development. The ditches cut through the natural and were interpreted as a potential trackway. The fills of these ditches were interpreted as contemporary to each other, with one containing Roman pottery
and ceramic building material (local grey ware, black burnished ware, amphora and Samian ware). The second ditch contained local Roman pottery (Holt and grey ware), ceramic building material, and one large piece of iron-working waste.
The finds were predominantly of an early to mid second century date. A conjectured line for a north-south Roman road running through Handbridge has been recorded just to the west of the site and the trackway could be a side access route for this.

Both ditches were sealed with a layer of clay containing Post Medieval bricks. Above this was a layer of clinker fire waste, understood as a deliberate dumping of small scale industrial waste. Overlying this was a layer of dark grey loam containing Post Medieval artefacts (clay pipe, ceramics, glass bottles, bricks), sealed by a thin layer of modern building rubble and limestone hardcore.