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Caves link village
to Roman times
by Gary Skentelbery

A NETWORK of ancient caves could link a Cheshire village to a place of Roman worship around 2,000 years ago.
Archaeologist James Balme, pictured at the entrance to one of the caves, is planning to investigate the caves found in sandstone rock faces in Lymm village.
Having already uncovered a Roman fortlet at nearby Warburton, where he has also discovered rare coins and brooches, he is now turning his attentions to a network of caves in the village.
Finding a large Roman steelyard weight close to the caves alerted James to the possible roots of Lymm village being founded by the Romans back in the 1st century AD.
Due to the intensive work he has been carrying out at Warburton he has had little time to investigate his findings but now, as he awaits the excavation of the Roman fortlet which will be dug later this year, he is concentrating his efforts on solving the mystery of the Lymm cave complex.
James Said: “Following on from my success at Warburton it became clear that there seemed to be a link between the caves in Lymm village and the Warburton site.
"The caves have never really been fully investigated or understood and I fully intend to put this right.
"Pepper street which runs through the village is a well known Roman road name and if you draw a straight line from Pepper street towards Warburton it passes straight through the Roman fortlet.
“There are many clues to Roman activity in Lymm and hopefully I can repeat the success that I had at Warburton.
"I strongly believe that Lymm was a place for Roman worship and I am sure that a shrine once existed here dedicated to the goddess Minerva who was the Roman goddess of War & Wisdom."
Other features to back James' theory include the fact that Lymm has natural water springs which run under the village and now feed the dam.
Other evidence of Roman activity in the village include a bronze Roman statue being found on farmland some years ago, as well as documentary evidence of possible Roman quarrying in the village close to the caves.
It is also rumoured that the sandstone base of the historic Lymm sandstone cross, which can be traced back to medieval times, was part of the original shrine to Minerva, which James says he will be following up these clues throughout this year.
“If the investigations show evidence of ancient activity at the caves then it is highly probable that we will reopen at least one of the caves at a later date as at present most of them are sealed."
The project will be featured on James’ web site www.warburtonvillage.co.uk from May onwards and anybody who thinks that they may have useful information regarding the caves in Lymm are invited to get in touch with him via his contact section at the Web site.
The Warburton Heritage Fund set up by James in 2000 will play an important role in the investigation of the caves.
Previous finds have included a rare silver Roman coin and numerous brooches which have made the Warburton site one of the most most important historic sites in the North West.