A34 Alderley Edge Bypass
Jul 21, 2010 by Claire Statter
L – P : Archaeology project managed the archaeological work needed for the new 5 and half kilometre bypass road on the A34 for Chester East Council Highways Service in 2008/9. Originally running through the centre of residential and commercial areas, the new road will bypass Alderley Edge and Nether Alderley in Cheshire.
The route of the bypass cuts several parish boundary ditches and goes through previously undeveloped fields within the Post Medieval landscape. In prehistory the wider area around Alderley Edge was heavily mined for its copper and earlier archaeological work had revealed an area of peat and a sand bank; both with potential for rare remains of Prehistoric activity.
L – P : Archaeology undertook a 4 month watching brief to monitor the top soil strip of the whole routeway. 50 samples were taken at random from the sand bank then sieved and analysed by L – P’s in-house archaeo-environmental team to identify the presence of Prehistoric remains. L – P commissioned Birmingham Archaeo-Environmental to carry out a core sample on the area of peat.
Working with the Development Control Officer for Cheshire East Council, L – P enabled the client to continue construction works with no interruption to timescales, whilst complying with planning conditions.
| Client: | Chester East Council Highways Service |
| Site: | A34 bypass |
| Development type: | Road |