Monument record 15935 - Cropmark Enclosure in Willaston

<1> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Patel R, 08/01/2023 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

A single-ditched, sub-rectangular enclosure visible as a cropmark on aerial imagery published on Microsoft's Bing maps (see 2). The enclosure measures approximately seventy-two metres by seventy-two metres to the outside of the ditch and is centred at approximately SJ 3356 7581. The dimensions enclosed within the ditch are in the region of sixty-four metres by sixty-four metres (an area of nearly exactly an acre), with a ditch width of three to four metres. The full circuit of the enclosure is visible as a very clear cropmark, except the northern-most corner, which might have been disturbed by a pond that's depicted on the 1848 tithe survey (see 3). The Bing satellite images seem to date from a time of drought; nothing is visible on Google satellite images from any year (see 4).

This enclosure is consistent with Iron Age/Romano-British farmstead enclosures of the region. It is located on a level boulder clay plain lying below a sandstone outcrop to the north-west. The position of the enclosure is, however, raised slightly above that of the A540 which it overlooks, being on a level area, at the edge of a very slight slope down to the road. Although the site itself is on heavy clay soil, soil mapping shows an area of sandier soil just 150 metres to the south-east. The farmstead at Irby was located close to three different soil types, a variety of soils being common to other Romano-British rural sites too (see 5). Also to the south-east, 450m away on the other side of the A540, is Shotwick Brook, which would presumably have provided a reliable source of water.

<2> Microsoft, 2009-2023, Bing Maps, 08/01/2023 (Web Site). SCH9535.

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 430/2, 1848 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

<4> Google, 2005, Google Earth, 08/01/2023 (Web Site). SCH7272.

<5> Philpott, R A & Adams, M H, 2011, Irby, Wirral: Excavations on a Late Prehistoric, Romano-British and Medieval Site, 1987-96, p. 190-2 (Book). SCH9536.

<6> Next Perspectives, 2019-2021, Aerial Photography for Great Britain, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery (2019-2021), SJ3375, 10/04/2020 (Aerial Photograph). SCH9405.

Comparison with the aerial imagery published on (2) strongly suggests that it was captured in the summer of 2020.