| Title: |
South Macclesfield Development Area, Cheshire. Archaeological Assessment Report |
| Number of Pages: |
43 |
| Biblio Note |
Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database.
The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.
|
| Publication Type: |
Report
|
| Abstract: |
An archaeological assessment was undertaken in advance of a combined retail and business park development. The study area comprised an area of about 60ha, within an area of former mossland which constituted part of Danes Moss, a former large mire filling a shallow basin. The earliest archaeological evidence from the region consisted of imprecisely provenanced artefacts, which included a perforated hammer and a barbed and tanged arrowhead. Prehistoric round barrows had also been identified from the area of Danes Moss, but none from within the study area. By the 13th century Danes Moss had become an important resource for the town of Macclesfield. The earliest burgages within Macclesfield had turbatory rights within Danes Moss and peat provided the main means of domestic heating; this continued to be the case well into the post-medieval period, despite the presence of coal pits on and near Macclesfield Common. The reclamation of most mosslands had to await the agricultural improvements of the post-medieval period, and by the time of the earliest mapping in the 19th century the area was partially reclaimed and subdivided into parcels by physical and mappable boundaries called moss rooms. There were several sites of limited archaeological interest within the study area which included wells (sites 11, 12, 19 and 20) and extraction pits (sites 13 and 14). Of more interest, however, was a series of tramways (sites 15-17), and a portable hospital (site 09) although no remains of these appeared to have survived within the study area. The landscape of the former moss rooms had partially survived in the form of some boundary divisions and different levels of peat deposits. A series of sand ridges was identified across the study area within former mire. Sand ridges in similar contexts had been found to contain significant prehistoric sites, and there was some potential that these sites within the study area were also exploited in the prehistoric period. However, as the site had not been subject to recent ploughing, the present survey was not able to identify any artefactual assemblages within them. While the present survey had not identified a significant archaeological resource within the area of the proposed development, it had identified areas, notably the sand ridges, that had archaeological potential and as such warranted further investigation. [Au(abr)] |
| Author: |
Rachel Newman
Matthew Town
|
| Publisher: |
Lancaster University Archaeological Unit
|
| Year of Publication: |
2001
|
| Locations: |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Danes Moss |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Macclesfield Common |
| Location - Auto Detected: |
Macclesfield |
|
| Subjects / Periods: |
| 13th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
| Postmedieval (Auto Detected Temporal) |
| 19th Century (Auto Detected Temporal) |
| Prehistoric (Auto Detected Temporal) |
| Prehistoric (Auto Detected Temporal) |
|
| Note: |
Date Of Issue From:
2001
Date Of Coverage From:
01
Date Of Coverage To:
01
Editorial Expansion:
Site name: SOUTH MACCLESFIELD DEVELOPMENT AREA
Study area: 60ha
Investigation type: Desk-based
District: Macclesfield
Monument: EXTRACTIVE PIT. Undated, INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL. Post-medieval (1540-1901), WELL. Post-medieval (1540-1901), WELL. Undated
Ngr: SJ90507180
Parish:
Postcode: SK117GT
|
| Source: |
BIAB
(Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP))
|
| Created Date: |
19 Jan 2009 |
