Monument record 1080/3 - Roman Middlewich - West of King Street (Bestwick site A)

<1> Thompson, F.H., 1964, A History of Cheshire. Volume Two: Roman Cheshire, 94-95 (Book). SCH2862.

In 1960…Harding and Blake carries out an exploratory excavation in the field west of King Street behind the house where the Diploma was found in 1939. Trenches 10ft square were opened along the East and South sides of the field, which produced evidence of occupation in the form of a fair quantity of pottery, ranging in date from the end of the from the end of the 1st until c. AD180. . Structural remians were slight through patches of burnt clay, pebble layers and iron nails might be interpreted as traces of insubstantial timber buildings. A notable exception was a rectangular pit lined with clay and brick and measuring internally 10ft long and 2 ft wide. A layer of charcoal and ash found in the floor. Complete and fragmentary objects of baked clay were recovered fron a fill of orange clay. These included a complete bar of rectangular section, 8 bricks and 8 cylindrical supports. All of these fall into the category of "briquetage", familiar from Iron Age and Romano- British coastal saltworking sites. Along with the ash layer the briquetage indicate that the pit can probably be identified as a trough kiln for brine evaporation form local springs.

<2> Bestwick J D, 1974, Romano-British Inland Salting at Middlewich (Salinae) Cheshire, 66-70 (Article in Journal). SCH2914.

..1960 when Harding and Blake undertook a short excavation near the centre of the Roman settlement ( Fig 41a Site A) …found traces of timber buildings and a Brine Kiln 90m west and isolated from the structures…Kiln measures 3.05, long and 0.61m wide…..Interior of the kiln filled with a layer of charcoal and fragments of briquetage... In the upper fill was a complete fire bar 0.6m long, with supporting lugs at each end. Fragments of a second bar were found. Other finds include fragments of kiln bars, 8 briquetage wedge shaped bricks, 9 cylindrical supports and 5 clay rectangular plates. A dark fibrous layer covered the kiln. The excavators suggest a layer of brushwood to retain heat, but it is possibly the remains of a collapsed roof.

<3> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Stubbs DA 1986 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The field is still ploughed and produces Roman artefacts.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ76NW2 (Index). SCH2487.

" The 1960 excavations…resulted in the finding of a (?Tile) kiln at SJ7047 6649, building foundations at SJ 7038 6654, and a ditch, over 10 ft deep and running approx NNW- SSE at SJ7029 6699"

<5> Jardine S, 1993, Photographs, Stubbs DA (Graphic Material). SCH2634.

<6> Nevell, M & Fielding, A., 2005, Brine in Britannia: Recent archaeological work on the Roman salt industry in Cheshire, p.25-30 Dodds, Leigh Salt Making in Roman Middlewich. Part 2 (Monograph). SCH7341.

Excavations in this area in 2001/2 identified the Kiln first excavated in the 1960s …The Rediscovery of the brine kiln located to the west of King Street enable further recording of this feature