Site Event/Activity record ECH3761 - Watching brief at 29 Bridge Street, Chester in 1998 (Fortress Baths)

This event was a watching brief monitoring building works to the rear of 29 Bridge St., known to have been the site of the exercise hall of the Roman fortress baths. Four small trenches were excavated by hand, Trench I measured roughly 4m square, Trench II measured 5m by 3.6m, and Trench III, the largest, measured 6.8m by 4.5m, and Trench IV was a small slot which measured 1.37 by 1.37. All archaeological features that were likely to have one been preserved at this location were destroyed by recent building activities, as disturbance and levelling sand was found immediately above bedrock in Trenches II, III and IV. In Trench I, there was a truncated pit, with a tertiary fill containing a mixture of Roman, medieval and post-medieval finds, in addition to what were assumed to have been ancient cuts in the bedrock. The Roman and post-medieval finds consisted largely of building materials, and some medieval pottery was reported.