Monument record 1080/8 - Roman Middlewich - Roman Salt-working Site at Jersey Way

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2015, Excavations on a Roman Salt-working Site at Jersey Way, Middlewich, Cheshire (Client Report). SCH8009.

<2> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1845-Present, Archaeological Journal, Volume 173, 2016. p 56-153. Zant, John. (Journal/Periodical). SCH338.

In 2008, an opportunity arose to investigate a potential area of Roman archaeology at Jersey Way, c. 750 m south-east of the Roman fort, within an area to the east of Roman King Street. This investigation comprised an archaeological evaluation across a 2.1 ha site, which confirmed the presence of significant Roman remains in five main areas (Illus. 3: Areas 1-5). In addition, several Roman features were also recorded in two evaluation trenches (T 28 and T 29) at the extreme south-east corner of the development site.

Given the presence of these remains, a large-scale excavation was then undertaken, between July and October 2012, which followed a brief issued by the Cheshire Archaeology Planning Advisory Service. Although, due to flooding, it was not possible to conduct any further excavation in the vicinity of evaluation trenches T 28 and T 29, five large open areas were successfully excavated across the other Roman remains identified during the evaluation. Significantly, these trenches uncovered a fairly dense collection of Roman features, many of which were directly associated with salt-working, as well as limited evidence for possible pre- and post-Roman activity

The Jersey Way site could be divided into two distinct zones of Roman activity: the north-western part, where sparse archaeological remains recorded appeared to relate to an agricultural landscape characterized by ditched field boundaries and possible trackways. No evidence of salt production or,other industrial process was recorded on this part of the site

The south-eastern zone was bisected by a north-east to south-west-aligned Roman road. Activity on either side of the road appears to have differed, with the area to the north being dominated by groups of large pits, together with two timber-lined wells, a large, wood-lined tank and a large hearth, all associated with salt production. Similar features were largely absent to the south, where a rectilinear timber building and another possible structure were recorded.

A notable feature of the investigations at Jersey Way was the discovery, towards the bottom of a brine well of a group of objects (or, rather, two possibly distinct groups)that appear to have been deliberately placed. At the very bottom of the well, within the putative original shaft (structure 3359), a coin was discovered, face up, on the cobbles that had been pressed into the natural clay, and a possible iron drawknife was also found there. Whilst it is conceivable that both items were dropped
accidentally, the discovery, in the silt immediately above the cobbles, of the seeds of
white bryony suggests a possible votive act.

The second group of artefacts was deposited somewhat later, after shaft 3359 had become filled with 0.3 m of fine silt (3360). Above this, but pre-dating the accumulation of silts associated with the rebuilt timber shaft (3066), a hand-mill, comprising the lower stone with an iron spindle inserted through the central hole, was placed in one corner of structure 3359, slightly overlying the top edge of the surviving planking. Two large fragments of thick lead sheeting, quite possibly from a brine-evaporation tank,
were also deposited across 3359 (Illus. 38), as was a large portion of a samian bowl, which survived in remarkably good condition. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this singular assemblage also had ritual significance, presumably relating to the postulated reconstruction of the well-shaft. Whilst the precise details of this votive act cannot be known, it perhaps involved the original shaft being ritually ‘closed’ before the new
lining was inserted.


The archaeological remains on the northern road frontage were clearly related to salt-working, but the status of those on the south may have been agricultural in nature

Evidence from all the pottery indicates that it is unlikely that activity began at Jersey Way before the final years of the first century, despite the presence of occasional earlier vessels. It reached its peak in the first half of the second century, thereafter declining in intensity until the early third, by which time it was at a very low level, although some activity continued into the fourth century.

10 coins recovered suggest that the principal period of activity dates from the late first century to the second half of the second century AD. At the same time it appears, as more generally in Middlewich, that activity of some kind (albeit diminished) continued well into the third and early fourth centuries.