Christopher Swales, from our Sheffield Office, was invited to Shrewsbury on Saturday 20 September 2014 to present the results of the Wessex Archaeology excavations on the Shelton Resilience Scheme to the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society. The talks were part of a one day event to review recent fieldwork and research that added to the understanding of Shropshire in the Roman period and were attended by more than 100 people from the local area.
The Shelton Resilience Scheme comprised a 4 km water mains pipeline just to the north of Roman Wroxeter, starting at Uckington and heading west to Atcham. The new pipeline was thought to be in the vicinity of several 1st century Roman marching camps that were associated with the foundation of the Roman Wroxeter. Roman burial grounds and pottery production sites were also thought to be located along the pipeline route.
Over the course of a six week excavation Wessex Archaeology stripped a 10 m wide corridor along the entire length of the pipeline route. Whilst nothing was found that could be conclusively linked to the early marching camps, evidence was found for a possible late Iron Age to Romano-British shrine to the west of Uckington. A cluster of cremation burials was also found in this area immediately to the west of the conjectured line of the north-south Roman road leading to Wroxeter. A possible pottery production site was also identified to the west of the Rivers Severn and Tern.
By Chris Swales