Site Event/Activity record ECH3010 - Excavations at the former Assay Office, Goss Street, Chester 1968 - 1970 (Goldsmith House Site)

Series of archaeological investigations carried out on the site of the former Assay Office and in the surrounding area on Goss Street. Work begun in October 1968 on the site producing valuable information on the barracks of the First Cohort (3). The excavation archive has since been lost and no trench plan survives. Subsequent work in 1969 with two further trenches excavated on an east west alignment, the larger of which covered the full width of the site (Goldsmith House). It confirmed the existence of two barracks on a north-south alignment separated by an alley of the usual width, and added the knowledge that behind of the western of these there was a third barrack facing east. (4) The second trench was dug at the northern end of the site and although rather badly disturbed, provided further useful information on the barracks and the alley between them. The north-west corner of a centurion's house was also recorded to the south and the north wall of a second centurion house (4). Britannia notes the three barrack buildings recorded are the first typical barrack block of the First Cohort (CHER 8304) at the extreme eastern edge of the site facing the veranda some 2.9m wide whose south end was eventually enclosedof the second typical barrack block of the First Cohort (CHER 8561) and finally the third barrack block (CHER 8248) described as facing east with evidence to suggest the veranda here had also been enclosed. (5) The men's quarters and the centurion's house were separated by an alley 3.7m wide. Two periods of timber construction were noted in addition to the later stone foundations (1)