Roman Middlewich

Middlewich stands on the Cheshire Plain where the Romans once dug for salt. They called the place Salinae, after the briny springs that rose through the fault beneath King Street. A fort was built at Harbutts Field to guard the salt workings, and digs there have uncovered a well and a stretch of Roman road still running south from the ramparts. Another excavation in Buckley’s Field showed more traces of Roman life, while King Street itself linked Middlewich to Northwich and may have carried the first leg of the invasion of the North West. The town once marked the crossing of seven major Roman roads and was even known as Medius Vicus, the town at the junction of the roads. Roman artefacts from these digs are displayed in Middlewich Library. Among them are pieces of samian ware and other pottery that help date the site, though the lack of early Flavian ware suggests the fort came later than once thought. The finds include roof tiles, coins and fragments of everyday tools, all recovered from the fields around the old fort. These objects show how the Romans organised salt production and kept the works supplied. The library’s small but revealing collection offers a quiet glimpse of life in Salinae two thousand years ago. A walk along King Street follows the line of the Roman road that once carried carts of salt to the wider province. The fault line beneath the street still lets brine rise in places, a reminder of the industry that first drew the Romans here. On the edge of town, Harbutts Field preserves the earthworks of the old fort, where archaeologists have mapped the ramparts and the well that once served the garrison. Buckley’s Field, just beyond, holds more buried traces of Roman buildings and roads. Together these sites show how Middlewich became a busy crossroads of Roman trade and military movement.