Excavations in Neston, March – April 2009
AOC Archaeology conducted an excavation of an early post medieval, 1600m² site
on land between Brook Street and Raby Road, Neston in advance of redevelopment
between March and April 2009. The work was funded by the former Ellesmere Port
and Neston Borough Council, now part of Cheshire West and Chester Council.
An archaeological evaluation of the site was undertaken in 2008 by AOC
Archaeology to assess the extent of archaeological remains within the proposed
development site. Based on the results of the evaluation the Local Planning
Authorities Planning Archaeologist recommended that a further archaeological
condition for a full open area excavation was placed on planning permission. This
was a key opportunity to uncover significant early post medieval archaeology in an
area where such remains rarely survive and to establish the presence or absence of
earlier remains.
The six-week-long archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of activity dating
from the 17th to 20th century. The remains centred upon a sandstone building, initially
constructed prior to its inclusion within the 1732 Mostyn Estate map of the area. The
building was located within the western half of the southern end of the site. It
comprised at least 3 phases of construction, represented by the demolition and
addition of sandstone walls, drainage structures and stone, brick and concrete floors.
Associated stone walls and brick drains ran into the western extent of the excavation.
Three intercutting ditches, rich in post medieval pottery sherds, were found curving
into and then out of the eastern extent of the excavation. The ditches were overlain
by an enclosed cobbled yard with a central brick pad, which may represent a
workshop or backyard contemporary with a later construction phase of the building in
the southwest corner of the site. The structure was truncated by a later wall and
significantly truncated by an early 20th-century structure, leaving its function
uncertain.
A large curving ditch ran roughly north-south in the centre of the southern end of the
site, filled with an organic, pottery rich silt. It was partially covered by a cobbled
surface leading from the entrance of the building in the southwest corner. A later
stone built wall of the southwest building and contemporary surface constructed from
sandstone, cobble stones and brick was found constructed on top of the cobbles.
The cobbled surface was located below a silted deposit rich in pottery, several made
ground layers of crushed stone and dark organic material, and a sandy bedding layer
for a later cobbled surface within the south of the site.
To the south of the main southwest building an irregularly shaped pit containing a
highly organic fill, with post medieval pottery inclusions, was found to respect the
most southerly wall of the structure. A small section of the later cobbles also
survived, but any earlier remains were truncated by a large 20th-century brick lined
pit.
The centre of the site was truncated by a 20th century concrete floor set above
compacted levelling layers of crushed brick and stone. The extent of the floor was
limited by a northwest-southeast orientated brick and concrete 20th-century garden
wall to the west, an earlier red brick north-south aligned wall to the east and the
stone built foundations of a previously standing car park wall to the north.
The red brick wall running roughly north – south in the east of the site was bonded to
the sandstone wall foundations to the north and was truncated in the south to include
a square brick built structure, which contained a brick floor and was set against the
sandstone, cobble stone and brick surface previously detailed. The structure appears
to have functioned as a stable, probably contemporary with the latest phase of brick
built construction for the main southwest structure.
Beyond the easterly brick wall a ditch and two shallow gullies ran northeastsouthwest. To the north of the sandstone wall foundations, within the most northerly
part of the site a large rectangular pit, probably representative of localised quarrying
activity was found truncating a shallow ditch, which ran east-west from the eastern
extent of the site, terminating in the centre of the site. The excavation of both
features produced post medieval pottery sherds and fragments of clay pipe.
In the northwest of the site a narrow gully ran east-west from the western extent of
the excavation, before curving northwards and terminating. An oval pit and shallow
circular posthole were excavated close to the gully. No dating evidence was
recovered from the ditch, pit or posthole and they cannot be stratigraphically
positioned in relation to the other features further to the east.
Significant finds from the investigation include a metal key and bronze buckle. A
large variety of post medieval pottery was recovered from throughout the site, some
of which appears comparable to the imported foreign wares from France and Spain,
and domestic wares from Devon and Surrey uncovered during the Evaluation. The
post-excavation phase of the project is now underway and will result in the
production of a report, which will provide a permanent record of the investigations.
This report is accompanied by a series of photographs which illustrate the various
stages of the excavation and some of the artefacts recovered during the work.
Paul Harris, Project Supervisor, AOC Archaeology
April 2009