Source/Archive record SCH5295 - An Archaeological Evaluation at Bent Farm, Newbold Astbury, Cheshire

This report describes the results of a programme of archaeological evaluation at Bent Farm, Newbold Astbury, near Congleton, Cheshire. The project consisted of the excavation of trial trenches and shovel pits and was conducted in advance of the opening of a new sand quarry. The site is situated to the south of a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a Roman fort, which it was suggested extends into the site. An earlier geophysical survey had found no evidence for the fort, though there were anomalies which potentially represented in-filled pits. Some linear anomalies were also present which were interpreted as field boundaries pre-dating the field systems which currently sub-divide the farmland. A total of fifteen trial trenches were excavated. Little evidence was found for in situ archaeological deposits, most features being 18th or 19th century field boundaries. No evidence was found to suggest that the Scheduled site extends into the site and the potential pits identified by the geophysical survey could be equated with patches of naturally deposited clay within the upper beds of the sands. Of the linear anomalies only two could be related to an archaeological feature. One, situated at the northern end of the site, was aligned with current field boundaries and presumably formed part of the same network of fields. The other was a shallow, north-east to south-west aligned ditch, also presumably a field boundary, which is on a different alignment to the other boundaries in the area and is not depicted on any of the available historic mapping of the area. This contained no datable material, the only find was a small fragment of fired clay. The report suggests that this feature is part of the medieval landscape, though an earlier origin cannot be eliminated. The project also included the excavation of shovel pits centered on the find spot of a Prehistoric flint blade found during field walking. The soil from these was sieved and another flint tool found. The residues from sieving also included a single fragment of pottery which is probably of Roman date. Although unlikely to relate directly to the Scheduled Ancient Monument the pottery could suggest the presence of archaeological deposits in that part of the field. The report suggests that mitigation consists of a watching brief during the top soil strip for the quarry. Particular attention will be paid to the area around the findspot of the Roman pottery and the boundary ditch.