Source/Archive record SCH9273 - Archaeological Watching Brief: Former Star Inn, Acton, Cheshire

Report for an archaeological watching brief was undertaken at the former Star Inn, Acton during July 2021 and May 2022. The purpose of the watching brief was to record any archaeological and palaeoenvironmental remains that survived on the site. Two watching briefs were undertaken during the initial ground clearance, the digging of foundation trenches, and the insertion of major services, as well as further ground clearance to the rear of the houses for landscaping. During the initial watching brief on the foundation channels for a short run of terraced housing, a section of field boundary ditch was seen. This aligns well with those seen on the early OS maps and less than a metre east of the projected line of this ditch a brick built wall was also seen, which aligns equally well with these boundaries. Almost abutting the eastern face of this wall a brick structure was recorded comprising two equally sized rooms within a single building, which corresponds with one displayed on the 1898 Ordnance Survey. Each room had an individual entrance and no evident connecting opening; perhaps suggestive of some form standardised public space, although the 1842 Tithe Map makes it clear that this was in the yard of what was originally a school house next door to the Inn.