It was an early 10.00am start for the Open Day and despite the wet weather, visitors soon began to arrive on the adjacent track a few metres away (being a working building site, this was the closest the general public were allowed). However viewing of the exposed sections was quite possible from that distance. Members of our Society were allowed on site as they were covered by our insurance etc., (and of course wearing their requisite PPE).
The archaeologists from Salford University were also on site, as this was their last day, and there was still much to do photographing and drawing sections. They had been on site, on and off, weather permitting, for the last 5 weeks and had managed to uncover two large sections of the road over a 50 metre stretch in the north area of the site.
Unfortunately, as reported last month, the upper metalling has been removed by ploughing. This has left just the foundation layer, which survives in the form of large irregular blocks of red and yellow sandstone (apparently red sandstone, known as the Sherwood Group, was quarried in Ashton in the 19th century in a place called Skitters Wood). The road seems to be about 7 metres wide, although roadside ditches, which generally delineate the width, were not visible. Plotting the road's position on the map showed that the alignment also to be slightly different than the projected line shown on the OS maps. The plot shows it veering more to the right by a few degrees as it heads towards Wigan.
In this final week, sections through the road have been dug across the line of the road at various locations, to see how deep the road had survived and if any roadside ditches could be identified. The results show there is very little depth to it and not much sign of roadside ditches either. However, in traditional Time Team fashion, on next to the last day, a well defined ditch feature was identified.
This was discovered on the east side of a section halfway up the embankment (the ridge separates the north area from the south). Even more exciting was the news of pottery finds. At first glance this seemed to Roman but, after careful washing, turned out to be Medieval. Even so, this was quite a rare find (there are far more Roman finds in the Wigan area than Medieval, despite it being qute a prominent town in the Middle Ages). In fact the style of the sherds gives them a possible 12th to 13th century date (the 'pie crust' rims were similar to a piece we recovered from the Rectory site a few years ago). The bottom of the ditch was also full of charcoal flakes but rather than a result of burning, these were probable the result of tree roots which had rotted over time. Similar black material had been found lying under the stones of the road probably representing the material of the original ground surface (samples where taken to see if carbon dating could reveal its age).
The Open Day was a great success with a good number of visitors throughout the day. There was also some emotion for one or two of the locals on seeing the road for the first time, knowing of its existence over the years - and, reminiscent of scenes from the Life of Brian, souvenirs stones from the site were going like hot cakes ('two large ones a small one for the grandchild' someone was heard to cry). We also had eminent Roman road hunters on site, such as Bob Hayes from Lowton and David Ratledge who runs the Roman Roads in Lancashire website. Both were impressed with the sections on show.
With great regret, in the next few weeks the road will disappear under the new housing scheme. However the archaeologists will be back when the field on the opposite side of the track is prepared for development (if no more Roman, then the latest finds might suggest at least a Medieval potential).
Next Meeting
Wednesday 2nd May. - in the Standish Suite at the Brocket Arms (7.30pm as usual). John Trippier who came in 2016 talking about Smithills Coaching house, is returning to give us his talk on the Prehistory of the West Pennine Moors (this will complement Jack Smith's recent talk on Prehistoric Anglezarke. Hope to see you there, BA.
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