Monument record 7299/1 - Excavated elements of field system, Somerford Park

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2021, A536 Congleton Link Road: Archaeological Report, R4713 (Asset 1) (Client Report). SCH9479.

A system of linear ditch features, some forming enclosures and a potential trackway, were excavated as part of a scheme of mitigation during the construction of the A536 Congleton Link Road. The area of Asset 1, a narrow corridor following the course of the proposed A536 road west of Radnor, was known to be of interest as it fell within the area of an extensive field system, visible as cropmarks, in Somerford Park (see CHER 7299) thought to pre-date the Somerford-Radnor Tithe Map (1840). Excavation within the area confirmed the presence of numerous linears.

At the northern end of the asset, at the eastern extent of the wider field system, was a series of substantial ditched boundaries, some of which had been re-cut, with others forming enclosures (371, 372, 377). It is possible that the linears represent more than one phase of land division, although the lack of finds from the fill deposits did not help clarify this. A small amount of post-medieval pottery was recovered from fill 340 in ditch 375 (a large east/west aligned boundary ditch), however, this small assemblage derived from an upper portion of the fill so does not securely date the construction of any phase of the boundary. To the south of the area of boundaries and enclosures, within the centre Asset 1, five parallel and regularly spaced linears on a north/south axis (features 359, 360, 361, 362 and 363) were recorded. Although no finds were recovered, they are likely contemporary, based upon their even spacing, identical axis, and similarity in fill types. Recorded in the southern extent of Asset 1 were a series of parallel ditches (358, 364/365), orientated roughly north-south and spaced between 10 and 13m apart; these could represent a trackway, potentially a formal avenue and entrance to the wider field system to the north.

<2> Historic England & Archaeological Research Services, 2017, Cheshire National Mapping Programme and Lidar Mapping Project: Sampling the Peak Fringe, Cheshire Plain and Mersey Valley, 1603418 (Digital Archive). SCH8172.

Several of the ditch features excavated in Asset 1 prior to the construction of the Congleton Link Road correlate to linear features mapped from cropmarks by a project undertaken in 2017 which forms part of Historic England's National Mapping Programme. The mapped features are described as follows:-

An extensive field system and associated hollow ways and platforms are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on historic aerial photography and Google Earth imagery, though many of the earthwork elements appear to have been levelled by the latest 2010 vertical imagery. The majority of the surviving features are located in landscaped parkland belonging to Somerford Park, though certain elements do appear to stretch beyond the bounds of the park. It is possible that the features are associated with the postulated medieval settlement of Somerford cum Radnor.