Monument record 15355 - Excavated Remains of Ovens/Kitchen?, Early Medieval Date, Bowe's Gate Road, Bunbury

<1> L-P Archaeology, 2021, Archaeological Evaluation and Mitigation Report for Land at Bowe's Gate Road, Bunbury, R4534 (Client Report). SCH9084.

An artificial terrace or hollow, cut into a natural slope, at Bowe's Gate Road, Bunbury, was recorded by archaeological excavation in 2021. Activity within the terraced area comprised the construction of at least three successive clay ovens for food preparation, with associated stone and clay surfaces and post-holes. These remains could represent a kitchen housed within a potential sunken featured building.

The earliest phase of activity produced cremated animal bone which has given radiocarbon dates of 668 – 776 cal AD (73.9%) [Beta – 593439]. The burnt animal remains from this phase suggests preparation of food associated with high-status dining.

Subsequent phases of activity were also related to the preparation of food but this appears to have been dominated by cereals and pulses as opposed to animal products. This could partly be an accident of preservation as the rotary quern stones in the phase 2 oven base must have been in use prior to being broken and discarded. These later phases of activity produced charred grains and charcoal which have been radiocarbon dated to 770 - 896 cal AD (87.9%) [Beta – 593440; 596681; 596982].

A final phase of activity involved the laying of a clay floor with associated pits/post-holes; however, this activity yielded little evidence suitable for radiocarbon dating and remains undated.

The Early Medieval archaeology at Bowe’s Gate Road spans the late 7th to late 9th centuries (a period often referred to as Middle Saxon in England) and as such represents a unique site both within Cheshire East and the wider North West region. The lack of comparable sites in the region makes it difficult to interpret the activity; however, the evidence for food preparation suggests that the combined evidence may represent a specialised kitchen area. Evidence for a separate kitchen located at some distance from a main residence has been noted at Early Medieval sites elsewhere in England. The close location of the site to the church of St Boniface in Bunbury could be of significance. Also, it is possible that a manor house existed close by. It could be that the Bowe’s Gate Road site forms part of the Mercian expansion into the northern Welsh Marches under Penda in the mid seventh century, later defined in the landscape by the construction of Offa’s Dyke in the eighth century.


The Bowe’s Gate Road site is very instructive in terms of surviving material culture of the Middle Saxon period in Cheshire. The relatively large quantities of fired clay objects, associated with the superstructure of the clay ovens, demonstrates that this material survived relatively well in the sandy soils of the site. However, not a single sherd of Middle Saxon pottery was recovered from the excavations, implying that pottery was generally not in use. Additionally, although the site and spoil heaps were searched using a metal detector, no metalwork of Middle Saxon date was recovered. The only objects which were stratigraphically dated to the Middle Saxon period are the fragments of rotary quern stone; which are not distinctive enough to be typologically dateable to the period.