Monument record 177/1/2 - Roman timber-lined pit, St. Anne's Lane

<1> McNeil, R., 1985, A Plank Tank from Nantwich (Unpublished Report). SCH7362.

A wooden structure was discovered during the digging of foundations for a bungalow in St.Anne's Road in July 1985. The owners contacted Liverpool University and the structure was excavated and found to be a plank built tank sunk into a tailor made pit. The plank tank had no floor. Immediately above the natural sand was a dense organic mat. Roman pottery was recovered from overlying deposits during construction work and also the spoil heap; however no pottery was recovered from the tank or pit. Timber samples submitted for dendrochronological assay. Tank thought to be a Roman brine filtering tank.

<2> McNeil, R., 1985, A Plank Tank from Nantwich, Liverpool University Archaeology Newsletter, Issue 1, 1985 (Article in Newsletter). SCH7361.

Archaeological services called in to investigate a wooden structure, which was found in St Annes Lane, Nantwich when foundations were being dug for a bunglaow. Thought to be a Roman brine tank with secondary use as a latrine pit.

<3> Roberts, T., 1985, The Roman pottery from Nantwich, Liverpool University Archaeology Newsletter, Issue 1, 1985 (Article in Newsletter). SCH7360.

Report of the 43 sherds of Roman pottery recovered from the area of the plank-lined pit. Many of the sherds were water-worn or abraded and no complete vessels were found. Five different wares were present: Samian, Oxfordshire Colour Coat, Severn Valley, Coarse oxidised and Black Burnished. Dating as follows:-
Samian, both deep bowls (Dragendorff 37): 110 to 135 AD; 110 to 120-40 AD.
Oxfordshire Colour Coat, shallow dish: 270 to 400 AD.
Severn Valley, narrow-necked jar: 2nd-3rd century AD.
Black Burnished, dishes and jars: 125 to 340 AD.
Coarse oxidised - local products but not assigned to individual kilns.

<4> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Turner R C (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Report of another wooden structure of deeply buried upright stakes a little to north where the corner of the present garage is now situated.

<5> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, Issue 10, 1985, p.70-1, McNeil R (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<6> McNeil, R & Roberts A, 1987, A Plank Tank from Nantwich, Brittania, Vol 18, 1987, p.287-295 (Article in Journal). SCH7364.

Whilst digging foundations for a bungalow in July 1985, a wooden structure was encountered which was then subject to archaeological excavation. It was a plank-built tank, or box, sunk into a tailor made pit. It comprised two courses of edge-set planks, constructed with tenon joints. A square, tapering stake and a large wooden chock were rammed against the exterior to prevent the sides of the tank/box from collapsing outwards. It is thought that the tank could have served as a crib for supporting lead brine pans, or alternatively, could have served as a well-head for the local brine springs. The bottom of the pit contained a deposit of organic debris which proved to be human cess due to the presence of a large amount of cereal bran fragments along with human parasite eggs. The use as a latrine is thought to be a secondary use of the structure. Although no finds were recovered from the pit itself, 43 sherds of Roman pottery were retrieved from the general area and spoil heap. The sherds were from 31 different vessels and comprised five different wares. Palaeo-environmental analysis identified 15 different types of fruit and vegetables as well as the parasite eggs. Dendrochronological dating of three planks which were probably from the same tree yielded a felling date of mid-summer AD.132.

<7> 1991, Roman Remains from St Anne's Lane, Nantwich (Finds report) (Unpublished Report). SCH7363.

R.Turner re-visited the site of the excavation of the plank tank in 1988 and recorded the recovery of more Roman pottery sherds from an area in front of the bungalow. Topsoil existed to a depth of 1.05m and overlay a layer of coarse, grey, silty sand from which the pottery was recovered. This layer, up to 0.3m deep, contained a lot of charcoal, burnt bone fragments, burnt daub and fired clay fragments. Pottery was concentrated in the central area of the hole and the cutting back of the north section confirmed this. The sherds were large and unsoiled and came from the same range of wares as the material collected in 1985. Below the grey layer was the natural buff, silty sand. As before, the pottery dated from the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
The finds of Roman deposits and finds from St Anne's Lane which include a cremation burial in 1982, followed by a quernstone, the Roman timber plank tank and the subsequent recovery of further pottery on different occasions, indicates that St. Anne's Lane is unlikely to be an area of Roman settlement which probably lay on the opposite side of the river. The presence of cremations, burnt bone and charcoal suggests an extra-mural Roman cemetery, whilst the presence of briquetage in the pottery, the timber-lined tank and the proximity of the site to salt pans suggest it was an area of salt works.