Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic hitting in March 2020, and the subsequent series of lockdowns, STAG members have continued to research the archaeology and history of the Trafford area and beyond. In the last two years the Group has produced five archaeology reports. Paper copies are available to consult at our Headquarters in Timperley, where we also hold digital copies of the data gathered. A brief summary of the five reports can be found below.

STAG 2020: FINDS REPORT – ROMAN SAMIAN POTTERY FROM THE EXCAVATIONS AT WEAVER ROAD, NORTHWICH, CHEHSIRE, 1987-1990

This report was funded by a research grant from the Council for British Archaeology North West and written by specialist consultant Felicity Wild. It forms part of a post-excavation programme of research being undertaken by the South Trafford Archaeological Group on their excavations within the Roman vicus at Northwich, Cheshire. The study focuses on an analysis of one type of pottery excavated at the site: samian ware. Samian ware is a type of fine, glossy, red pottery manufactured in several provinces of the Roman Empire but typically made in Roman Gaul from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. The Samian pottery assemblage came from the Weaver Road site (centred SJ 654 733) and was excavated between 1987 and 1990.

Much of the samian ware from the excavations at Weaver Road, Northwich, was very fragmentary and abraded, making the forms difficult to identify with certainty and an accurate assessment of the numbers of vessels present impossible. About 480 sherds were examined, including scraps and flakes. Where forms could be identified, excluding scraps, this amounted to at least 224 vessels. Slightly more than half (55.5%) came from the large rubbish deposit (context (2a)). 59% of the material was South Gaulish, from La Graufesenque, 41% from Central Gaul. Of the Central Gaulish ware, a third (14% of the total) was from Les Martres-de-Veyre, two thirds (27% of the total) was probably all from Lezoux.

The date-range of the material was extremely limited, c. AD 80-90 to c. AD 140, in line with the results of previous excavations at Roman Northwich. The present excavation grouping adds a further two scraps of early Flavian Samian pottery to that already known from Northwich. It is perhaps not surprising that early material should be lacking in an industrial area away from the earliest fort. The work of the Lezoux potters of purely Antonine date was absent, as were the later Antonine forms. There was only one example of Samian pottery form 38, which started in the Hadrianic period, and fully developed examples of form 31 appeared to be absent. An end date of c. AD 140 or shortly after for this assemblage therefore seems probable. This accords with the date range of the Roman glass analysed from the same excavations.

STAG 2020: BUILDING SURVEY REPORT – NOS 8 TO 10 OLD MARKET PLACE, ALTRINCHAM, TRAFFORD

This report details the archaeological and historical research undertaken by the South Trafford Archaeological Group subsequent to the discovery in October 2019 of a cruck-framed truss in Nos 8 to 10 Old Market Place, Altrincham. Extensive renovation work during October to December 2019 revealed the fragmentary remains of a previously unrecorded cruck-framed timber building, a building type most commonly found in the late medieval period and 17th century in Britain. This building lies in the historic centre of Altrincham, a medieval market town with a charter from 1290. Although not a listed structure the property does lie within the Old Market Place Conservation Area.

Emergency recording (photographs and a measured survey of the cruck truss and timber-framed partition) was undertaken by the South Trafford Archaeological Group and Altrincham History Society revealing a single surviving cruck-truss exposed in the northern wall of No. 10. The cruck truss only survives at first floor and roof height. The wide cruck blades (up to 0.35m) were adzed finished. The blades were braced by a tie-beam and a collar beam, and at ground floor were probably c. 5m apart – although no evidence for this location was recovered. The apex of the cruck-truss is roughly 6m above the current ground level and followed Alcock’s L1 style, where the two trusses were tied together at the very tip with the aid of a short brace. There was evidence at the top of the western cruck blade for blocking showing the original roof line.

STAG 2021: FINDS REPORT – A REPORT ON A LATE MEDIEVAL HARNESS PENDANT FROM WARBURTON, TRAFFORD

A late medieval harness pendant was the oldest item amongst several pieces passed on to the South erafford Archaeological Group (STAG) in 2015 by one of the local farmers in the parish of Warburton, Trafford. The harness pendant comes from a field to the south of Moss Brow Farm in Warburton. Warburton has been a focus for archaeological research and metal detecting activity since the 1990s. The South Trafford Archaeological Group has undertaken field walking, testing pitting, excavation, landscape surveys, and historical building surveys in this area since the late 1980s.

The late medieval harness pendant handed to STAG in 2015 measures 19mm by 25mm and is 2mm thick. It weighs just 5gms and is in the form of a square-topped shield with a rounded base. The pendant has an incomplete round suspension loop projecting 8mm from the top of the pendant plate and set perpendicular to the shield, with a depth of 2mm to 5mm. The shield is heavily corroded, and the surface has a pale-green appearance. The decoration on the obverse side depicts two lions rampant in relief and coloured in red enamel. Below these are another red enamelled relief design that has been almost completely worn away. It is likely that this design was a third lion rampant, in which case this harness pendant depicts the Arms of England, a common motif of the late medieval period in the 13th to 15th centuries. The reverse is blank.

STAG 2021: FINDS REPORT – A REPORT ON A PIECE OF IRON TAP SLAG FROM A BLOOMERY SITE AT BRASDFORDS HOUSE FARM, NETHER ALDERLEY, CHESHIRE

This report presents the results of a brief finds analysis of a single piece of slag found on land west of Bradford House Farm, Nether Alderley, East Cheshire. This material was brought to the attention of the South Trafford Archaeological Group aby Mike Redfern of Wilmslow, who has had this item, and other pieces of slag from the site, in his possession since around 2005. This is a piece of classic tap slag exhibiting ‘ropey’ morphology on its upper surface. It shows the flow line as it ran out from the furnace tapping arch in a molten state before cooling. The slag belongs to a type of furnace called a bloomery, named after the nearly pure lumps of iron that were left after the smelt. It dates to the later medieval or very early post-medieval period and is associated with the earthwork remains of a known bloomery site that might have been water-powered.

STAG 2021: BUILDING SURVEY REPORT – THE WHEATSHEAF PUBLIC HOUSE, ALTRINCHAM, TRAFFORD

This report details the archaeological and historical research undertaken by the South Trafford Archaeological Group on the Wheatsheaf, a former public House in Altrincham, Trafford, Greater Manchester, in January and February 2021. The Wheatsheaf lies on the northern edge of the historic market borough of Altrincham and the property was part of the Dunham Massey estate of the Earls of Stamford & Warrington. It has been possible to trace the Wheatsheaf public house back to at least 1696. In that year the tenant was an Mr Aldcroft. The earliest map to show a building on the present site of The Wheatsheaf is Burdett’s 1777 map of Cheshire. The first reference to its use as public house come sin 1811, but this use may have originated in the 1790s. It remained a Public House down to the early 21st century. The Wheatsheaf is a two-storey building six bays across the front (eastern) elevations, constructed in brick, now painted white and surfaced with decorative applied timber framing which extends across the whole of the front. The building has an L-shaped plan, with a slate-covered roof. Internally, the structure comprised three floors at the time of the survey in February 2021. The basement had two rooms, the ground floor 14 room spaces and the first floor 10 room spaces.

The current research has revealed that The Wheatsheaf had at least five major phases of rebuilding and expansion, although there were also many smaller interventions within the building. The earliest form of The Wheatsheaf was probably a two-bay, two storey, brick farmhouse, built in the late 17th or early 18th century. By 1799 a separate, detached, northern brick range had been built. The biggest period of expansion was the mid-19th century. Between 1835 and 1852 a two-storey brick building one bay wide and two bays long, western wing was added to the rear. In the period 1876 to 1897, the rear, western, elevation of the main Church Street range was further expanded to give its current, 2021, appearance. Early in the 20th century, by the 1920s, the Church Street elevations of the main range and the northern range, with refaced with timber to give a timber-framed, black and white ‘Tudor’, appearance. Between 1935-6 and 1966 the northern courtyard range was demolished and the northern bay of the northern range was also demolished.