More information : [SJ 530 700]. A Field System, probably Early Iron Age or Romano-British, north of Langley Farm, Kelsall. See plan [AO/62/139/2.] (1)
[Area centred SJ 531 701] Clear indications of field system in snow are visible on APs. (2)
In area A - centred SJ 5290 7006 - is a well preserved field system with typical Iron Age/Romano-British lynchets average 1.5 m high. Adjoining A, on the east and south-west, similar lynchets are ploughed down but traceable. The remainder of the area shown on air photos is covered with fruit trees and here the field system has virtually been obliterated. (3)
No change since report of 06.10.64. (4)
SJ 529 700 (FCE). Medieval or post-medieval field system at Kelsall. The remains of a field system (not of pre-Saxon date as suggested by Authorities 1 and 3), consisting of a series of E-W orientated lynchets, lie on sloping ground to the E of Longley Wood. The lynchets, which are traceable for a length of over 280m, vary in width between 18m and 30m. The earthworks are best-preserved in the NW corner of the site which is the steepest part and the least suitable for cultivation. To the east a number of the lynchets have been cut by extractive activities in the gorge, but to the W they merge into the natural slope.
Two stone quarries were recorded on the waterstone ridge in the S part of the field, and two small hollows W of the northernmost quarry, 6m in diameter, appear to be bomb craters.
The above description is summarised from an RCHME 1:1000 scale survey conducted in February 1987. The results of the survey are held in the NMR. (5)
These features were mapped from lidar imagery as part of the 'Cheshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping Project: the Chester environs' in 2019. The lynchets are visible as earthworks on lidar imagery in the north of the parish of Kelsall and extend far boyond the scheduled area covering much of the hillside. These features are extant on the latest 2016 vertical photography. (7-8) |