Site Event/Activity record ECH4276 - Former St Augustine's Convent, Union Street, Chester: Archaeological Evaluation (draft)

The evaluation comprised a desk-based appraisal of documentary sources and a three 2 by 2m trial trenches. The desk-based appraisal demonstrated that the main archaeological interst of the site lies in the possibility that it lay within the area of the Roman period settlement in Chester. Remains found in several nearby locations suggest this to be the case. The former name of Union Street, 'Barker's Lane', suggests that tanning took place here in the post-medieval period. The sample excavations demonstrated the presence of Roman period remains in all three trenches at depths of around 1.2m below the present ground surface. An inhumation burial was also recorded, of a probable Roman date (1). Assessment of the environmental remains from a site on Union Street. Rapid assessment of the material showed that the environmental potential of the samples was very low and nothing of interest was found (2).