Extract from the South Ribble Museum and Exhibition Centre website:-

‘The Roman site at Walton-le-Dale lies on the east bank of the river Darwen, near its confluence with the Ribble, in an area formerly known as the Flats, crossed by Winery Lane. Nothing suggests that there was any local knowledge of the Roman remains before the mid-nineteenth century, when local antiquarian Charles Hardwick recorded the discovery of Roman coins and sandstone walls by workmen digging gravel.

It was not until the 1950s that a local archaeologist, Ernest Pickering, undertook systematic small-scale excavations, revealing evidence of a large and well-preserved Roman site. In 1981, the prospect of redevelopment prompted three seasons of excavation (funded by the forerunner of English Heritage), completed in 1983. In the event, no development took place until 1996, when a second large-scale excavation to the south of the original was funded by the developer. Most of the site now lies beneath a retail park.’

The excavations in 1996 at Walton-le-Dale revealed a remarkable section of the road which pointed towards Leyland, lining up with Todd Lane, Stanifield Lane and on towards Euxton.

View along the Roman Road looking south

A section through the road showed that it had been relaid many times and you could even see where potholes had been repaired.

Copyright – Wigan Archaeological Society