Monument record 2880 - Excavated Roman Enclosure/Farmstead, North of Puddington Lane

<1> Cheshire Historic Environment Record, 1990-2001, Jill Collens and Rob Philpott's Aerial Photographs, Philpot RA LM90.1222 10/08/1990 (Aerial Photograph). SCH5403.

Cropmarks of a possible enclosure or linear system. Possibly prehistoric or Romano-British.

<2> Various, Written Communication to the HER, Philpot RA 26/07/2013 (Written Communication). SCH3756.

The evidence for the date and character of the site can only be determined by morphology (shape in plan) and study of its relationship to the historic landscape as mapped in 1839 on the Tithe Award map. The absence of the feature from the Tithe Award and later maps makes it virtually certain to be an earlier feature. Given that the Tithe Award map fossilised elements of the enclosed former medieval field system, and the enclosure does not form part of that field system ,it is almost certain that the enclosure predates the later medieval period, i.e. 12th-16th century. No fieldwork or research has been undertaken to investigate the site, so its date and character are not certain. However, the plan and dimensions are consistent with a Romano-British enclosure and if it is such, then it is highly likely to represent a farmstead enclosure – a rural settlement.

<3> National Museums Liverpool, 2013, Investigation of Two Enclosures at Puddington Lane, Burton, Wirral (Unpublished Report). SCH8302.

A programme of archaeological assessment was undertaken by the National Museums Liverpool for two enclosures at Puddington Lane, Burton, Wirral. They were originally identified as cropmarks through aerial reconnaissance in 1989-90. Investigation of the southern, sub-circular enclosure (recorded separately as monument 2879) occurred in 2010-2011 as part of a research project to discover its date, function and character. Investigation of the northern, sub-rectangular enclosure followed in 2013 as a result of a threat to the site through development of the proposed Wirral HVDC Cable Project. As for the sub-circular enclosure, work included field walking, metal detecting and the excavation of trial trenches. The specific aims of the assessment was to determine the full extent of the enclosure, in particular to the north where the ditch was not visible on the photography as a clearly defined cropmark, also to recover sufficient artefactual evidence to determine the date and function of the enclosure. Excavation within the enclosure was intended to determine character and preservation of any internal features. Four trenches were located across the perimeter ditch of the enclosure on north, south, east and west sides, however, the ditch was only positively identified in two trenches. Trench II cut through the perimeter ditch on the east side of the enclosure; it measured 1.8m wide and 0.70 deep and had a U-shaped profile, sloping sides, with a wide, flattened bottom. Roman pottery was recovered from the lower fill of the ditch. Trench III cut through the perimeter ditch on the south side of the enclosure; it measured 3.25m wide and 1.25m deep. The primary fill contained much charcoal which was sampled. Trench I, which extended into the north-east corner of the interior of the enclosure, recorded two stone-lined post holes and a key-hole shaped oven with a fired clay lining and containing Roman pottery. Trenches V and VI were located in the interior of the enclosure. Trench V recorded a ditch boundary producing eighteenth and nineteenth century pottery, it coincides with a boundary depicted on the Tithe Map. Trench VI recorded nineteenth century field drains; this trench was not fully excavated. Artefactual evidence recovered demonstrates a Romano-British date for the sub-rectangular enclosure. The walkover surveys produced at least 42 sherds of Roman pottery, a sizeable quantity for lowland North West England. The trenches produced a further 15 sherds, 8 of which were stratified. The sherds date from 160-200 (Wilderspool mortarium rim) to third to mid fourth century (Oxfordshire red-slipped ware). This date range is confirmed by two Roman coins recovered through the metal detecting survey, including a worn coin of Marcus Aurelius, indicating a date of loss in the latter part of the second century, whilst the second coin dates to 337-41, confirming activity until the mid fourth century.

This archaeological assessment proved that both north and south enclosures were of Romano-British date and apparently occupied at the same time, so raising questions on the relationship between the two adjacent sites. It is possible that the sub-circular enclosure represents the earlier of the two enclosures, being established in the Iron Age and displaying a traditional form of sub-circular enclosure plan in use in this region during this period. This enclosure was also occupied, although not necessarilly continuously, in the Roman period with pottery sherds found from the second century and also the later third to mid fourth century. The artefactual evidence for the northern enclosure indicate a Roman date, with a foundation in the mid second century. It is possible that the reason for the co-existance of the two enclosures is that they performed different functions, whether for different combinations of agricultural, dwelling, or small-scale industrial use, or possibly it demonstrates different ownership, or indeed a fission of holdings through population growth.

<4> Oxford Archaeology North, 2017, Excavation of Two Enclosures at Puddington Lane, Burton, Wirral, Merseyside: Assessment Report, R4052 (Client Report). SCH8301.

In 2015 further archaeological investigative work was carried out on the two enclosures at Puddington as a result of the laying of underground cable for the Wirral HVDC Project. The route of the cable extended directly across the north-western extent of the north enclosure. This phase of work comprised a mixture of trial trenches and area excavation across the affected part of the enclosure.

The ditches defining the western and northern sides of the crop mark enclosure were located within the area excavated for the cable easement; they were circa 2m wide and 1.2m deep with V-shaped profiles, through the inner face of the northern ditch was significantly steeper than the outer face. The junction between these ditches lay outside the excavated area, but projecting the line of each suggests an internal angle of circa 90 degrees which broadly corresponds with the cropmark evidence for a near right-angle at the south-eastern corner. The profiles of these sections had steeper sides and narrower bases than those in Trenches II and III, excavated in 2013, so it is possible that the western and northern ditches represent a different phase, the sequence of fills also being different, but a more likely explanation is that the variation in fills represent different source materials in different parts of the enclosure and it is notable that the ditch did not form as a cropmark on the north and west sides. Neither ditch had direct evidence for an associated bank, either in their fills or in the surrounding area, although a gap of circa 2.3m between the internal edge of the ditch cut and the closest cut feature suggests that there was sufficient space for a small internal bank. The ditch on the north side of the enclosure contained a deposit containing large, unabraded Roman sherds, some joining, together with heat-shattered cobbles and charcoal, representing occupation debris. This deposit may represent an intentional deposition in an attempt to level the site, coinciding with the abandonment of the settlement.

In the interior of the enclosure, features identified include three potential structures. The first was defined by two an angled linear cut (structure 1); the second by a curving, V-shaped gully with associated post holes (structure 2); and the third a group of nine cuts forming a parallelogram shape (structure 3). Three groups of cuts with evidence of heating/scorching on their sides were also recorded and may represent cooking pits or smithing hearths. In Group 3, there was a slightly larger, sub-circular cut, with scorched sides, which contained a high charcoal content and thousands of well preserved naked barley grains combined with a few wheat grains; this is a crop profile typical in the North West in the Bronze Age. However, it is unclear whether this represents dating evidence for this feature or indeed the group as a whole. In the north of the enclosure a wide-spread (12m by 7m) deposit was recorded which was up to 0.15m thick and occurred as small isolated patches. It was cut by structures 1 and 2 but sealed some of the postholes. A thin scatter of features was found outside of the enclosure ditches but there is little evidence for their date. However, their fills were very similar in character to those of features within the enclosure ditches so they are assumed to be broadly contemporary. Most were centred on a north-west to south-east aligned ditch or gully to the west of the enclosure which was circa 0.5 m wide and 0.3 m deep with a V-shaped profile.

In summary, this work demonstrated that the enclosure was defined by a single ditch and that it contained widely scattered post-holes, pits and gullies likely to relate to buildings and other structures. Finds consisted of pottery, metalwork, glass, industrial waste from metalworking and other material which suggest that the main phase of occupation dated to the mid third to fourth century AD, though there are hints of earlier late first to mid second century activity and possibly even Bronze Age.