TheChester Antiquary Newsletter of the Archaeological Society 2008 Issue 1 (Spring/Summer)

Searching for a lost Roman road

to the north of Chester HIS short paper describes one The preferred narrated route traverses aspect of the current research Mollington and continues along Tbeing undertaken by members of the Townfield Lane and onwards up the Backford, Mollington and District Wirral via Ashcroft Farm. History Society with members of the For the Romans to link the military Wirral Archaeology Group in pursuit of fortress of Chester with the ancient the course, construction and destina- coastal port of Meols, a road would be tion of the Roman route north out of required. Whilst the legionary fortress Chester. at Chester had its own port and wharfs On leaving Chester via the North- on the River Dee, access along the shift- gate and heading north to the Wirral ing sand bars of the Dee Estuary was peninsula, the road forks at the George possibly at best unpredictable and re- and Dragon public house in Upper quired the limited use of shallow Northgate Street. To the right of the fork bottomed boats. A port nearby, linked the road leads onto Liverpool Road, by a road, would increase the certainty which heads up the eastern side of the of military supplies and access to trad- Simple diagram of the main roads Wirral towards Birkenhead. The road at ing routes. up the this point was formally known as Bache Substantial archaeological finds measured to be twelve feet wide, indi- Lane. around Meols indicate significant cating it to be an economic support road The left fork heads up the west side Roman activity, and the historical route rather than a major military highway. of the Wirral along Parkgate Road, ways and landscape in the north of the Extrapolating the alignment of this road where it used to be known as Molling- Wirral peninsula indicates the existence south takes one directly to just north of ton Lane. This road was used by the of a Roman road. the Northgate in Chester. coach services north from Chester along Following Roman road-building This second route indicates that the to Parkgate. The route goes further up techniques, a straight line from the road alignment passes through Molling- to the North Wirral coast and the coastal Northgate to Meols gives the lie to a ton, along parts of Townfield Lane, community of Meols. possible route through Mollington. The adjacent to Rose Farm and Tarrant Farm Additionally, near the point of the route passes through Mollington at a on their eastern side, through to the Upper Northgate Road fork, another point just to the west of the ancient sett- north of the Northgate. A northerly road of Roman origin went off to the lement of Great Mollington (Mollington extrapolation of the alignment from east and has been tracked to the Roman Tarrant), bisecting the fields northwards Street Hey aligns with the Roman stone settlement of Wilderspool (Warrington) of the former Tarrant Farm, across War- quarries of Storeton and the Bidston and on to Manchester. ren Farm, and on across Hill Farm to Ridge. Alignment of the Street Hey road There has been conjecture regarding Ashcroft Farm. without any doubt terminates just north a Roman road north out of Chester, The problem is that no points south of the Northgate. heading up the Wirral. Most of the of Willaston, some ten miles out of the It is to points south of Willaston in acknowledged authors on Roman roads Northgate, have yet revealed any the parish of Mollington that we con- to and from Chester have reported on measured Roman activity. Time and fine our current field work. third-party observation regarding the habitation have more than obliterated The Roman surveying trigonometry existence and course of such a Roman any obvious surviving signs. exercises, matched to digital mapping, route way. Desk-bound conjecture and However, just to the east of have revealed potential courses for the short, incomplete lines, drawn on maps Willaston, archaeological finds have roads. It is at this stage of the project of the Wirral peninsular, postulate the revealed the course of a Roman route- that we have now instigated resistivity existence and course of such a road. way along Street Hey. This road was (continued on page 2)

1 The CHESTER ANTIQUARY 2008/1 (continued from page 1) ten adjacent four hundred metre-square the west side of the feature. Below this surveying, courtesy of Chester Archae- grids was undertaken and the results were carbon deposits at a depth of fifty ological Society, to try to locate below- processed in less tha two minutes. to sixty centimetres. No sign of any pos- surface survival and therefore prove the Interestingly, the field being surveyed sible dating evidence was found. existence of a Roman road through contained a seemingly very old ridge- Further resistivity surveying in the Mollington. and-furrow system. other field at Hill Farm proved equally Two sites were identified for survey- The results of the survey strongly inconclusive. Despite surveying over ing. The first was the Great Mollington indicate a distinct routeway crossing four thousand square metres, the results town field, by the fingerpost in from left to right in grid squares seven failed to indicate the existence of the Mollington, which was part of Tarrant and eight. This is on the west side, along proposed Roman road and, in fact, ap- Farm and which has not been ploughed an old field boundary, in an alignment peared to indicate the presence of a in living memory. The second site was to the Northgate to Meols routeway. substantial building of recent date oc- the north-west field at Hill Farm, off An exploratory trench positioned on cupying the site. Coalpit Lane, just south of Ashcroft these anomalies proved inconclusive. Future work will involve the sinking Farm. It is clear that the land to the west of the of further test pits on the Great A group of ten volunteers from the hedge line shows evidence, possibly of Mollington site to try to locate and Backford Mollington and District a track or road, approximately four me- identify below-ground survival of the History Society, the Wirral Archaeolo- tres wide and at a depth of thirty to Roman road and, if successful, confirm gy Group, along with enthusiastic help forty-fivecentimetres. We also uncov- the existence of the Roman road to from the Chester Archaeological Socie- ered intermittent fist-sized cobbles, Chester. ty and others, were there to help lay out which were not present in other parts of the grids and conduct the survey. the field. In addition, there was a dis- Carl Stagg The first site at Great Mollington was tinct soil change at this depth to a hard, Backford, Mollington and surveyed. A full days effort of plotting gravelly level of sandy grit, dipping on District History Society

Notes and News

Edwin Warwick Claverton Fieldwork parties, so if you have some views this Edwin Warwick Claverton Fieldwork is your opportunity to air them. The T is with great regret that I have to Project document can be found at: http:// report the unexpected death of our www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/ IHonorary Treasurer, Edwin Warwick. The Claverton fieldwork project will Publications/archive_2008/ Edwin has played an important role in continue this year. Fieldwork dates will pub_drafthpb.htm. the Society for many years and was well be 12/13 April, 19/20 April, 26/27 April known to everyone. His professional and 3/4 May 2008. CBA North West management of the Society’s finances If you are interested in participating has ensured that we are in a very strong please contact either Phil Miles or Averil Spring Reports Meeting position to advance the aims of the Downes. Society. A formal obituary will appear On Saturday 10 May at South Trafford in the next volume of the Journal. Our Archaeological Group, Stockport Road, sympathies go to Marjorie and the Altrincham WA15 7LP. The theme is family at this sad time. Archaeology Day Community Archaeology in Greater Manchester. A reminder that Cheshire Archaeology Talks include: The search for prehis- Annual General Meeting Day will be held on 19 April at The tory in Tameside; Mellor revisited; This year's annual general meeting will Memorial Hall, Nantwich. The cost is Twenty years of changes in north-west be held on Wednesday 23 April at £11 (£9 concessions) and booking can archaeology; further work on the 7.30pm. We have co-opted on to the be made with Pam Rutherford, Cheshire Roman road from Manchester to Wigan; Council a new Treasurer, Alan Austin, County Council, T: 01244 973175, E: Moston Old Hall; Excavations at to replace Edwin Warwick and a new [email protected]. Wythenshawe Park and Peel Hall. Secretary, Alan Williams, to replace Non-members are welcome. Cost Anthony Holliday who will stand down Draft Heritage £6.00 (£13.00 incl buffet lunch). For a at the annual general meeting. These programme and booking form, see appointments should be confirmed at Protection Bill www.britarch.ac.uk/cbanw. In case of that meeting. Earlier this month the Government pub- difficulty, telephone Mrs D Waring, lished the Draft Heritage Protection Bill 01254 619803. and is seeking feedback from interested

2 The CHESTER ANTIQUARY 2008/1 Weekend excursion to the Isle of Man 21 to 24 September 2007

Members of the Society visit the USA (geologically-speaking) Photograph © Ian Archibald

OLLOWING the stimulating lecture ty on the way, we visited an out of the Monday exposed the weakness of on the archaeology of the Isle of way keel (a small chapel of early medie- our decision to come to the island via FMan presented to the Society during val date), the existence of which was a Sea Cat, as unseasonal weather led to 2006 by Dr Peter Davey, it was decided complete surprise to our coach driver, its cancellation. But this particular ill that we needed to see the fascinating who thought he had seen every ancient wind blew us the good of an extra after- sites for ourselves. Thus an expedition, site on the island. Our morning was com- noon, which turned out to be very which had been mooted for a number of pleted with a visit to Marown Church, welcome as we took ourselves to the years, was finally realised. Peter very St Patrick’s Chair, an enigmatic early south of the island to look at Rushen kindly offered to act as cicerone for the Christian site, and Purt y Candas, a Abbey and Castle Rushen. Without the adventure and we are very grateful for metal-working site dating from the sixth extra time, we would have been rather the knowledge which he was able to to eighth centuries, which required rushed in our tours of these rich loca- share with us during the four days of some energetic scaling of banks and tions. We also managed to fit in visits the trip. ditches in order to secure access! A to the Iron Age/Viking sites of Travel to the island was via the Sea packed lunch was had under the shad- Balladoole and the Braaid before taking Cat from Liverpool which on the way ow of the Tynwald Mound and the the long ferry trip to Heysham. This was out seemed like a good choice, smooth afternoon was spent at Peel Castle. followed by a coach trip to Liverpool, and fast, as we sailed out of Liverpool Before a dinner at the delightful Manx where we were met by the ever reliable past the QE2. The afternoon of that National Heritage Restaurant at Niabyl, Merediths coach in the middle of the Friday was spent in the Manx Museum, we had the strange opportunity of night. viewing the 'Story of Man' film and being able to visit America – at least a Members returned to their homes in browsing the new Viking and medieval part of the American continent which the early hours of Tuesday morning. A gallery, which had just opened earlier in got left behind when Gondwanaland bit of an adventure, but worth it for the the summer. This provided a conven- split up – at the Niarbyl fault. insight we gained into the history and ient overview and background for the Sunday took us to the north of the archaeology of our near neighbours in visits which we had over the weekend. island with the churches of St Michael, the Isle of Man. Many thanks to Peter Our Manx education was completed Andreas and Maughold, each rich in Davey for his splendid commentary on with a talk from Peter over dinner in the early medieval carving. The more adven- all that we saw. Empress Hotel on the shore in Douglas. turous members scaled the Maughold Saturday focussed on a trip along the hill fort. After lunch, we visited a fort Ian Archibald central valley with Peel as the ultimate constructed by the Stanley family dur- destination. Along the way we saw ing the English Civil War – completely Braddon Old Church, with its fine unexpected among all the Manx and collection of early medieval crosses. Viking heritage. The return to Douglas Picking up some unexpected guests was via the famous Neolithic chambered from the Norfolk Archaeological Socie- tombs of King Orry’s grave at Lonan.

3 The CHESTER ANTIQUARY 2008/1 For anyone interested in ancient copper alloy barbarous copy of a third Coins from Meols artefacts from any period from the Mes- century ‘radiate’ type of Tetricus II (AD olithic to the nineteenth century, this 274 to the early fourth century); a has been a much-anticipated volume. bronze issue of Constantine II (AD 341- A group of coins recently made pub- 346) and another of Julian the Apostate lic is likely to add to the modest stock of (AD 378–383); a follis of Justinian (AD rare finds published in the Meols vol- 527–65) or his predecessor, Justin I (AD ume. The coins were collected by the 518–527); a Byzantine copper alloy is- late Mr Alan McKechnie over a period sue either of the Emperor Constantine of some years. The specific coin types VII (AD 913–944) or Nikephoros III (AD EMBERS who heard Dr David represented in this small collection, and 963–969); and an unknown Arabic is- Griffiths’ lecture to the Society the chronological periods from which sue. These late or post-Roman coins, Min 2005 on discoveries at the small they are drawn, parallel known types and rare early medieval and Viking Wirral locality of Meols will know some- from the Meols archive. The coins have issues, closely follow the periodicities thing about the frankly sensational been identified by Dr Robert Philpott of published material from Meols. character of some of the items that (National Museums Liverpool) and Dr Zosia Archibald have been discovered at the site since Matthew Ponting (School of Archaeol- at least the 1840s. ogy, Classics, and Egyptology, Meols. The Archaeology of the North University of Liverpool), who are both Excursions 2008 Wirral Coast (Oxford University School familiar with the metal finds from XCURSIONS for this year are of Archaeology: Monograph 68/ Insti- Meols. A full report is now in prepara- planned for the Anderton Boat Lift tute of Archaeology, University of tion. Eand the Northwich Salt Museum for Oxford) by David Griffiths, Robert A Among the earlier coins is a denarius Saturday 12 May and to Denbigh on Philpott, and Geoff Egan, with contri- of Claudius, and what seems to be a Saturday 12 July. Forms are enclosed- butions by more than a dozen specialist small non-Roman copper denomination with this newsletter, which should be authors, appeared late in 2007. (Greek?). Among the later coins are: a returned to Margaret Ford if you wish to take part. Society Information Dumfries and Galloway 12 to 15 September Contacts Contacts Building on our exploration of the Irish Chairman Dr Ian Archibald, 67 Handbridge, Chester, CH4 7JF. Tel (01244) Sea littoral, the Society council is 680096. Email [email protected] currently exploring the possibility of a Vice Chairman Mr Philip Miles, 10 Deansway, Tarvin, CH3 8LX. Tel (01829) weekend excursion this year to the 741207. Email [email protected] Dumfries and Galloway area of South Honorary Secretary Mr Anthony Holliday, Netherleigh, Eaton Road, Hand- West Scotland. As well as being spec- bridge, Chester, CH4 7EW. tacularly beautiful, the area is rich in Membership Secretary Mrs Kathryn Miles, 10 Deansway, Tarvin CH3 8LX. archaeology, including the famous Tel (01829) 741207. Email [email protected] early medieval site at Whithorn, Threave Acting Honorary Treasurer Mr Alan Austin, 8 Pinfold Close Chester CH4 Castle (built by the Newsletter Editor's 7ES. namesake Archibald the Grim!), Sweet- Honorary Editor Dr Meggen Gondek, Dept of History & Archaeology, heart Abbey and Robert the Bruce’s cave. The most likely date is the week- , Parkgate Rd, Chester, CH1 4BJ. Tel (01244) 512150 end of 12 to 15 September. This will Email [email protected] only happen if there is sufficient inter- Honorary Newsletter Editor Dr Ian Archibald (as above) est. If you are interested, there will be a Honorary Librarian Dr Derek Nutall MBE, Langdale, Pulford Lane, Dodle- form at the Annual General Meeting or stone, CH4 9NN. Tel (01244) 66050. Email [email protected] contact the Society's Chairman, Ian Excursions co-ordinator Mrs Prue Wendt, 28 Church Lane, Upton, Archibald, at 67 Handbridge, Chester Chester CH2 1DJ. Tel (01244) 382786 CH4 7JF. Fieldwork co-ordinator Mr Phillip Miles (address as for Mrs Kathryn Miles) Ian Archibald

Library The Chester Antiquary is published Members are welcome to browse through the Society’s library at Chester twice a year, in Spring and Autumn. History and Heritage (general books) and Chester University (journals) We welcome letters and articles from Members. Contributions for the next issue should be with the Internet newsletter editor, Dr Ian Archibald, http://www.chesterarchaeolsoc.org.uk no later than 30 September 2008.

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