Site Event/Activity record ECH3601 - An Evaluation Excavation at Chester Royal Infirmary, March 1992 (Infirmary Site)

An archaeological evaluation comprised of the excavation of twenty-one trial trenches spread evenly across the area bound by City Walls Rd. To the north and east, Bedward Row to the south, and St Martin's way to the west. The evaluation showed that the Infirmary buildings had destroyed most of the archaeological deposits. Around the edges, several Roman gullies - probably drainage or boundary features - survived. The tail and bank against the rear of the northern City Wall could possibly have originated in the Saxon period. Over most of the site, a medieval soil layer confirmed that most of this area was cultivated during the Middle Ages. Traces of a building along the east edge of the site may relate to a tithe barn of St Werburgh's Abbey which is known to have lain in this area. The most significant post-medieval feature was a pit containing a large quantity of mid-seventeenth century tobacco pipe kiln waste.