Site Event/Activity record ECH2853 - Excavations at Cuppin Street, Chester in 1986

This event represents archaeological excavations carried out in advance of groundworks on the south side of Cuppin St., on the site of the Magistrates Court in 1986. Substantial rock cut Roman mains culvert recorded. Adjacent to the drain, traces of what may have been a turf rampart were discovered (1). The recent history of the site was represented by a complicated sequence of outhouses across the whole backyard area, including a substantial stone built cess pit and a seventeenth century brick kiln with a large number of unfired and partly fired bricks recovered in situ from the bottom of the kiln. In the medieval period the site was held as a single property with an area of substantial paving immediately to the rear of the cellared buildings on the street frontage. The timber remains of an outhouse was also recorded. Saxon evidence was represented by cultivation soils with a few postholes and small pits, one of which contained charcoal and burnt clay fill and a fragment of a stone mould for casting silver ingots. Roman evidence was extremely limited comprising a possible road and evidence of a timber lined drain beneath it. The most significant Roman feature recorded was an area of square cut turves typical of Roman rampart construction, however it lies outside the known fortress (2).