The Makerfield Rambler
Excavations at Crow Lane East, Newton-le-Willows, 1985
“The road is found by the plough in the School-field; and in the next field, which is called Little Rushy Hey, it is found very plainly in the ditch which separates that field from Great Rushy Hey.
The Roman road then crosses the turnpike-road, in the Crow-lane, opposite to the Tanyard Barn, where it is discovered by the gravel in a piece of waste-ground; and it is again found in the Tanyard Meadow, near the foot road.”
[From “Some Account of Three Roman Roads which meet at Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, by Edmund Sibson, Minister of Ashton in Makerfield in the Said County”, reproduced in Vol 3 of Edward Baines' “History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster”, 1836]
“That there were cross-roads in the [Crow] lane is apparent from the fact that it traversed the Roman road from the south at the Tan-house or Holly-house farm... This farm apparently derived its name from the tannery that once stood near, and the adjoining thatched cottages were said to be occupied by the workmen.... I every day walked up and down the remnant of the “Vicinal” Roman road near the milestone next to Edwardson's House (opposite Clarke's Farm - now Holly House Farm); we called it “The Slutchy Lane”... The Roman road from the south ran through the farmyard -indeed, we have been told, the last vestiges of the road were found there some years ago...”
[From “Newton-in-Makerfield: Its history, With Some Account of Its People, Compiled from Authentic Sources by John Henry Lane With Notes and Reminiscences by Peter Mayor Campbell”, 2 volumes, 1914-16]
“In June 1985, through liaison with St Helens Planning Department, the then Archaeological Survey of Merseyside (part of the former Merseyside County Museums) was advised of a major housing development south of Holly House Farm, Crow Lane East, Newton-le-Willows. The l: 1250 Ordnance Survey map showed that the area lay on the line of the Roman road at NGR SJ 5832 9549. On a visit to the site in June 1985 a deep trench excavated for sewage disposal was found to have cut across the line of the Roman road, exposing details of construction in the side of the trench. The present section lay c. 230 m south of Crow Lane East and approximately 60 m west of the modern road serving the two schools south of Crow Lane...
The road had been constructed on an existing deposit of silt sand soil (7)*, and had been bedded on a foundation of clean red sand (6), upon which was laid a shallow layer of small sorted pebbles up to 30 mm in diameter. Above this was a layer of flattish Bunter sandstone slabs (4), up to 0.30 m across and averaging 50-60 mm in depth, laid to form a gently cambered surface 6.2 m in width. This in turn had been covered by a thin layer of fine pebbles (3), which measured on average 20 mm in diameter. The road was flanked on either side by a shallow ditch (19, 17) approximately 0.70 m wide on the east and 0.50 m on the west, both of which had been filled with sand and pebbles washed in from the uppermost surface of the road (layer 8 in ditch 19 to the east, and layers 9, 10, 11 in ditch 17). To the west the pebble surface had been dispersed beyond the ditch by the action of water and the plough and it is this spread of gravel that has been identified in previous fieldwork on the line of the road...
There was no evidence of Roman occupation in the vicinity of the road at this point.
The road construction corresponds closely to that found in the sections examined by Dunlop and Fairclough in 1928 and 1929 east of Winwick Hall Lodge, although they were unable to find any trace of side ditches.. .”
[From “Observations on the Wilderspool to Wigan Roman Road in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, 1985-1995”, Robert Philpott with a contribution by Ron Cowell, in Journal of the Merseyside Archaeological Society Vol 10/2000. *The bracketed numbers -“(7)” etc- refer to the sectional diagram shown left, below. A better-quality illustration is available to view at www.merseysidearchsoc.com/uploads/2/7/2/9/2729758/journal....]
Taken on 22 May 2018, the photograph looks west along Crow Lane from its junction with Queens Drive towards the Roman Catholic Church of SS Mary and John. The Roman route must intersect the Lane at roughly this point (OS VectorMap Local, 2018 version, has the intersection at SJ 583 957), although further excavations to the north of this spot in 2002 and at the Holly House Farm site in 2005 failed to yield any remains (“An Archaeological Excavation at Latham Avenue and Cole Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, St. Helens, Merseyside”, L Hayes & M H Adams, unpublished NMLFAU report, 2002; “Holly House Farm, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Excavation Report”, Mark Bagwell, unpublished Oxford Archaeology North Report, 2005).
Excavations at Crow Lane East, Newton-le-Willows, 1985
“The road is found by the plough in the School-field; and in the next field, which is called Little Rushy Hey, it is found very plainly in the ditch which separates that field from Great Rushy Hey.
The Roman road then crosses the turnpike-road, in the Crow-lane, opposite to the Tanyard Barn, where it is discovered by the gravel in a piece of waste-ground; and it is again found in the Tanyard Meadow, near the foot road.”
[From “Some Account of Three Roman Roads which meet at Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, by Edmund Sibson, Minister of Ashton in Makerfield in the Said County”, reproduced in Vol 3 of Edward Baines' “History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster”, 1836]
“That there were cross-roads in the [Crow] lane is apparent from the fact that it traversed the Roman road from the south at the Tan-house or Holly-house farm... This farm apparently derived its name from the tannery that once stood near, and the adjoining thatched cottages were said to be occupied by the workmen.... I every day walked up and down the remnant of the “Vicinal” Roman road near the milestone next to Edwardson's House (opposite Clarke's Farm - now Holly House Farm); we called it “The Slutchy Lane”... The Roman road from the south ran through the farmyard -indeed, we have been told, the last vestiges of the road were found there some years ago...”
[From “Newton-in-Makerfield: Its history, With Some Account of Its People, Compiled from Authentic Sources by John Henry Lane With Notes and Reminiscences by Peter Mayor Campbell”, 2 volumes, 1914-16]
“In June 1985, through liaison with St Helens Planning Department, the then Archaeological Survey of Merseyside (part of the former Merseyside County Museums) was advised of a major housing development south of Holly House Farm, Crow Lane East, Newton-le-Willows. The l: 1250 Ordnance Survey map showed that the area lay on the line of the Roman road at NGR SJ 5832 9549. On a visit to the site in June 1985 a deep trench excavated for sewage disposal was found to have cut across the line of the Roman road, exposing details of construction in the side of the trench. The present section lay c. 230 m south of Crow Lane East and approximately 60 m west of the modern road serving the two schools south of Crow Lane...
The road had been constructed on an existing deposit of silt sand soil (7)*, and had been bedded on a foundation of clean red sand (6), upon which was laid a shallow layer of small sorted pebbles up to 30 mm in diameter. Above this was a layer of flattish Bunter sandstone slabs (4), up to 0.30 m across and averaging 50-60 mm in depth, laid to form a gently cambered surface 6.2 m in width. This in turn had been covered by a thin layer of fine pebbles (3), which measured on average 20 mm in diameter. The road was flanked on either side by a shallow ditch (19, 17) approximately 0.70 m wide on the east and 0.50 m on the west, both of which had been filled with sand and pebbles washed in from the uppermost surface of the road (layer 8 in ditch 19 to the east, and layers 9, 10, 11 in ditch 17). To the west the pebble surface had been dispersed beyond the ditch by the action of water and the plough and it is this spread of gravel that has been identified in previous fieldwork on the line of the road...
There was no evidence of Roman occupation in the vicinity of the road at this point.
The road construction corresponds closely to that found in the sections examined by Dunlop and Fairclough in 1928 and 1929 east of Winwick Hall Lodge, although they were unable to find any trace of side ditches.. .”
[From “Observations on the Wilderspool to Wigan Roman Road in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, 1985-1995”, Robert Philpott with a contribution by Ron Cowell, in Journal of the Merseyside Archaeological Society Vol 10/2000. *The bracketed numbers -“(7)” etc- refer to the sectional diagram shown left, below. A better-quality illustration is available to view at www.merseysidearchsoc.com/uploads/2/7/2/9/2729758/journal....]
Taken on 22 May 2018, the photograph looks west along Crow Lane from its junction with Queens Drive towards the Roman Catholic Church of SS Mary and John. The Roman route must intersect the Lane at roughly this point (OS VectorMap Local, 2018 version, has the intersection at SJ 583 957), although further excavations to the north of this spot in 2002 and at the Holly House Farm site in 2005 failed to yield any remains (“An Archaeological Excavation at Latham Avenue and Cole Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, St. Helens, Merseyside”, L Hayes & M H Adams, unpublished NMLFAU report, 2002; “Holly House Farm, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Excavation Report”, Mark Bagwell, unpublished Oxford Archaeology North Report, 2005).