North-West Crewe Package, Crewe, Cheshire: Geophysical Survey (OASIS ID: headland5-330139)

Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd undertook a geophysical (magnetometer) survey, covering approximately 12 hectares, on the north-western periphery of Crewe, East Cheshire. The survey encompasses the corridor for the construction of 3.3 km of proposed new highways which will extend north and south of Leighton Hospital and also link east and west with A530 Middlewich Road and Minshull New Road. The corridor is located within a landscape of moderate archaeological potential with Roman, post-medieval and modern activity in the immediate vicinity, although there are no known heritage assets within the corridor itself. No anomalies of definite archaeological potential have been identified by the geophysical survey with the majority of the anomalies being of modern, agricultural or geological origin. A line of pit type responses (a possible pit alignment) has been identified immediately south of Leighton Hospital but this interpretation is tentative, and a modern origin is considered equally likely. The relatively narrow width of the survey corridor makes confident interpretation of some of the anomalies difficult but on the basis of the survey the archaeological potential of the road corridor is assessed as low with the exception of in the vicinity of the possible pit alignment where it is assessed as moderate.