Late Bronze Age / Iron Age Ring Ditch

 

Towards the end of the 2001 season three small evaluation trenches were opened up, some distance away from the main chapel excavations, in an attempt to unearth evidence for prehistoric and Roman settlement. Large quantities of Roman artefacts and building materials had been recovered from the chapel excavations along with a substantial scattering of prehistoric flints which pushed the earliest date for the site back to c. 6500 BC. Much is known about the military establishment of 'Deva' at Chester. Chester was a frontier fortress of major importance, yet its military and

Artist's reconstruction of Ringditch. Click on the image to enlarge it.

political influence was not always constant, and in many respects the civilian population played an equal part in the day-to-day social and economic life of the area. Unlike Deva there is a dearth of known Roman rural settlement sites in SW Cheshire. One factor is the nature of the underlying geology of dense boulder clay; it is not particularly conducive to aerial photography. For instance, air-survey failed to pick up any of the chapel walls excavated at Poulton, even though they were buried barely 400mm below the grass surface.

Another handicap lies in the agricultural nature of the region that is predominantly pastoral or dairy farming. This severely curtails the potential for sites being discovered through ploughing.

Therefore, research projects, such as Poulton, are vital if more Roman rural sites are to be located

To date, a wide variety of Roman artefacts have been recovered from the medieval chapel site. The quality of the objects, which includes brooches, window and goblet glass, samian pottery and coins, suggests a site of high status. Their wide-ranging dates points to a long-lived occupation of the site in the Roman period.

The large quantities of building materials, including a fragment of a stamped XX Legion roof-tile, indicate that the remains of a Roman structure lie very close to the chapel excavations. This poses many questions. Roman villa? temple? shrine? or perhaps the site of a celtic landlord's 'Romanized' farmstead? Are the artefacts representative of a series of Roman rubbish-pits disturbed by later medieval grave-digging? Is the site a rural retreat for a member of the military elite stationed at 'Deva'?

Whatever the true nature of the structure waiting to be unearthed, the Poulton Project's contribution to the understanding of Roman rural settlement in Cheshire cannot be understated.

Although the traditional view of prehistoric Cheshire has been one of a sparsely populated region, recent fieldwork has revealed evidence for many possible sites in the area, dating from the Mesolithic (C.7000BC) to the eve of the Roman invasion (43AD). A site excavated at Tatton Park in the 1980s unearthed Mesolithic flint microliths similar to those recovered from the Bache Pool, 5km north of Chester, which was drained in the 19th century (Matthews). Both sites suggested that a hunter-gatherer group had camped beside a pool of water for the food it offered, such as fish, water-fowl and aquatic mammals (such as beavers).

At Carden, 13km south of Chester, a large collection of flints have been recovered over several years from the front of a rock-shelter set into a cliff face (Matthews). A date of 6500-6000BC is broadly contemporary with the flints found at Poulton. Other collections have been found at Aldford, Tarvin and Ashton-juxta-Tarvin.

The new evidence from Poulton is adding to the picture of later Mesolithic settlement in the region. The flints include tools and flakes, mostly fashioned from small boulder clay pebbles. Some are very small (microlithic), likely used for fishing; others are larger and probably used for scraping animal hides. Some fragments were used as trimming flakes for tools, and represent a later development in stone technology that continued well into the Neolithic period (see below).

Although the Poulton collection has come from the topsoil and disturbed subsoils, their very presence points to activity on the site during early prehistory.

Only a dozen flints found at Poulton can be assigned a Neolithic date, a period when land was being opened up by the first farmers and small settlements begin to appear. Poulton's proximity to the site of a potential ritual monument at Farndon, 1.5 miles upriver, and chance finds from the locality suggests that a settlement exists at or nearby Poulton.

The Bronze Age is the most productive period for sites and monuments in NE Wales, predominantly habitation, field systems and burial sites. It has the densest concentration of Bronze Age barrows, or burial mounds, in the country and can boast the second largest man-made mound in the British Isles, Gop Cairn. Many of the barrow's situated in the lower hills and river valleys have been badly damaged by plough action leaving the mound completely destroyed; many survive purely as 'ring-ditches'.

Poulton lies barely 40 metres from the present day border. It is highly likely, therefore, that sites from the Bronze Age are to be found in SW Cheshire. The existence of a ring-ditch at Lavister and Holt, the former I km from Poulton, bears testimony to activity in the area. Bronze Age barrows are rarely constructed singularly but as cemeteries. If barrows are in evidence there must be associated habitation sites and field systems still waiting to be found.

The Iron Age (C.900BC-43AD) immediately precedes the Roman occupation of Britain. Yet, somewhat perversely, it is the one era totally absent from the archaeological record at Poulton.

Other sites have been identified in N.Wales and also in Cheshire, but Poulton has proved singularly obstinate in producing evidence for the period. If there was a Celtic occupation of the site it is possible that its location is close by, or, more likely, it is obscured by the later presence of a potential Roman structure.

It was against this background that a survey programme was undertaken separate to the ongoing medieval chapel excavations.

The results of a soil resistivity survey, a technique employed in the detection of possible underground features such as walls and ditches, strongly hinted at the presence of at least one buried structure and the presence of ditches/enclosures.

Two of the trenches contained ditches of a post-medieval date, possibly relating to the existence of a small cottage/farmstead. However, it was the third trench, located some 60 metres to the north of the chapel, that really excited the Poulton team.

After initial cleaning of this area a well-defined arc of darkened soil was revealed; it was clearly dug into the natural, undisturbed geology, confirming that it was man-made. Provisional interpretation suggests that it is a 'ring ditch' of late Bronze Age/early Iron Age date (1000 BC-600 BC).

The ditch has a projected diameter of 16 metres; a small section of the ditch was excavated to a depth of 60 centimetres. The only finds recovered were fragments of a horse skull and two fragments of coarse, handmade, pottery. However, within the exposed area of the ditch several more sherds of this coarse pottery were recovered. Totally unexpected was the presence of numerous fragments of cremated human bone directly associated with the pottery. On further investigation several small burnt areas were identified circling fragments of cremated human bone.

Financial constraints, allied to the need to complete the chapel excavations prior to tackling a new site, precluded a full-scale excavation and only allowed for a surface recording of the ring-ditch and its interior. Excavation is scheduled for the summer of 2003. It is early days, but all the signs point to the rare presence of a possible prehistoric burial site. Of equal importance is the establishing of the location site of the settlement associated with the burial ground.

To the immediate north and south of the ring-ditch the outline of two Roman ditches were noted and will also be investigated in 2003.

© 2000-2003 The Poulton Research Project