The Makerfield Rambler
Excavations at Pipit Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, 2005/6
“Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by Wainhomes (Northwest) Ltd to carry out an archaeological investigation of a proposed residential development on land off Pipit Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside (centred on NGR SJ 5830 9530). The proposed development site is positioned immediately to the north of the Liverpool and Manchester railway line. The site is bounded to the north by modern residential development and is bounded to the east by allotments.
The archaeological investigation revealed that the majority of the site had once been referred to as a ‘Big Sand Yard’ on the 1839 Tithe map.
Current Ordnance Survey mapping shows the east side of the proposed development site lies immediately to the west of the presumed course of the Wigan to Wilderspool Roman road. Previous investigations along the route of this road have shown its position to differ from the course mapped by the Ordnance Survey. Therefore, there is a possibility that the road may lie within the outlined development site. Consequently, an archaeological programme of work was requested by Merseyside Archaeological Service (MAS) in order to identify and characterise deposits or features of archaeological significance that might be impacted upon.
A programme of archaeological evaluation was undertaken in the first instance in November 2005.
This consisted of a consultation of the Merseyside Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) and the excavation of two trial trenches (Trenches 1 and 2) aligned east/west across the eastern end of the development site. The trenches measured 20m by 2.4m and were positioned in an attempt to locate the remains of the Wigan to Wilderspool Roman road, should it be situated in this area.
Excavation of the trenches identified two parallel flanking ditches aligned north/south and were assumed to be part of the Wigan to Wilderspool Roman road, which would have spanned an area of more than 17.5m in total. The actual alignment of the Roman road, therefore, lies approximately 8m to the west of the assumed course plotted by the Ordnance Survey*. However, the road surface was not located and it was evident that the road had been severely truncated.... [This] is most likely to have occurred in the nineteenth century, during the extraction of sand for the local glassworks. The ditches were similar in profile to those identified flanking the Roman road in Acorn Street (Philpott and Cowell 1995), Crow Lane East and Pine Avenue (Smith 1992), all of which contained similar fills. In comparison, though, the results from Pipit Avenue showed a poor level of survival of the Roman road. This led MAS to request mitigation of the groundworks for the development in the form of a watching brief.
Consequently, archaeological monitoring of the excavation of the foundation trenches for seven house plots (Plots 1-7) was undertaken over five days in February, April and May 2006. This monitoring programme did not record any archaeologically significant features or deposits in addition to the information obtained during the evaluation. The flanking ditches actually lay outside of the majority of the foundation trenches. The western ditch lay within Plot 7 but the maximum depth of the excavations did not reach that at which the ditch was known. The footing trenches excavated for Plots 2, 3 and 4 possibly clipped the position of the western trench but these were also not excavated deep enough to intrude into the ditch deposits. On the other hand the trenches within Plot 5 were excavated to a depth beyond that at which the eastern ditch occurred but the narrow width of the trenches may have inhibited its observation....”
[From “Land Off Pipit Avenue, Archaeological Evaluation and Watching Brief”, C Healey and A Lane, Lancaster: Oxford Archaeology (North), 2006]
The significant redevelopment that has taken place in this part of Newton during the last 150 years makes the 19th century sources increasingly unhelpful as guides to the location of any possible remains of the Roman road.
Taken on 22 May 2018, the main photograph looks north-east along that part of Pipit Avenue that runs parallel with the railway. Trench 2 was underneath the house that now stands to the left of that behind the parked car. The position of Trench 1 was slightly out of frame to the right. The photographs on the left show (left) Trench 1, looking east; (right) Trench 2, looking west; (below) Trench 1, looking north. *OS VectorMap Local (2018 version) has the line of the Roman road at SJ 583 953; slightly to the east of Trench 2 as mentioned by the authors of the report.
Excavations at Pipit Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, 2005/6
“Oxford Archaeology North was commissioned by Wainhomes (Northwest) Ltd to carry out an archaeological investigation of a proposed residential development on land off Pipit Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside (centred on NGR SJ 5830 9530). The proposed development site is positioned immediately to the north of the Liverpool and Manchester railway line. The site is bounded to the north by modern residential development and is bounded to the east by allotments.
The archaeological investigation revealed that the majority of the site had once been referred to as a ‘Big Sand Yard’ on the 1839 Tithe map.
Current Ordnance Survey mapping shows the east side of the proposed development site lies immediately to the west of the presumed course of the Wigan to Wilderspool Roman road. Previous investigations along the route of this road have shown its position to differ from the course mapped by the Ordnance Survey. Therefore, there is a possibility that the road may lie within the outlined development site. Consequently, an archaeological programme of work was requested by Merseyside Archaeological Service (MAS) in order to identify and characterise deposits or features of archaeological significance that might be impacted upon.
A programme of archaeological evaluation was undertaken in the first instance in November 2005.
This consisted of a consultation of the Merseyside Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) and the excavation of two trial trenches (Trenches 1 and 2) aligned east/west across the eastern end of the development site. The trenches measured 20m by 2.4m and were positioned in an attempt to locate the remains of the Wigan to Wilderspool Roman road, should it be situated in this area.
Excavation of the trenches identified two parallel flanking ditches aligned north/south and were assumed to be part of the Wigan to Wilderspool Roman road, which would have spanned an area of more than 17.5m in total. The actual alignment of the Roman road, therefore, lies approximately 8m to the west of the assumed course plotted by the Ordnance Survey*. However, the road surface was not located and it was evident that the road had been severely truncated.... [This] is most likely to have occurred in the nineteenth century, during the extraction of sand for the local glassworks. The ditches were similar in profile to those identified flanking the Roman road in Acorn Street (Philpott and Cowell 1995), Crow Lane East and Pine Avenue (Smith 1992), all of which contained similar fills. In comparison, though, the results from Pipit Avenue showed a poor level of survival of the Roman road. This led MAS to request mitigation of the groundworks for the development in the form of a watching brief.
Consequently, archaeological monitoring of the excavation of the foundation trenches for seven house plots (Plots 1-7) was undertaken over five days in February, April and May 2006. This monitoring programme did not record any archaeologically significant features or deposits in addition to the information obtained during the evaluation. The flanking ditches actually lay outside of the majority of the foundation trenches. The western ditch lay within Plot 7 but the maximum depth of the excavations did not reach that at which the ditch was known. The footing trenches excavated for Plots 2, 3 and 4 possibly clipped the position of the western trench but these were also not excavated deep enough to intrude into the ditch deposits. On the other hand the trenches within Plot 5 were excavated to a depth beyond that at which the eastern ditch occurred but the narrow width of the trenches may have inhibited its observation....”
[From “Land Off Pipit Avenue, Archaeological Evaluation and Watching Brief”, C Healey and A Lane, Lancaster: Oxford Archaeology (North), 2006]
The significant redevelopment that has taken place in this part of Newton during the last 150 years makes the 19th century sources increasingly unhelpful as guides to the location of any possible remains of the Roman road.
Taken on 22 May 2018, the main photograph looks north-east along that part of Pipit Avenue that runs parallel with the railway. Trench 2 was underneath the house that now stands to the left of that behind the parked car. The position of Trench 1 was slightly out of frame to the right. The photographs on the left show (left) Trench 1, looking east; (right) Trench 2, looking west; (below) Trench 1, looking north. *OS VectorMap Local (2018 version) has the line of the Roman road at SJ 583 953; slightly to the east of Trench 2 as mentioned by the authors of the report.