Site Event/Activity record ECH4296 - Evaluation at New Crane Street, Chester in 1999

Three trenches were excavated over an area known to have been a riverside wharf in the nineteenth century. Results from the excavation of Trench 3 demonstrated that structural remains dating to this period exist, and that these were part of a smithy operating on the site at this time. Remnants of possible twentieth century structures were also discovered in Trenches 2 and 3. Earlier archaeology located in Trench 1 included tow sandstone structures, possibly linked with the canalisation of the Dee in the early eighteenth century. Deposits of silt stratified between these features hints at a phase of rapid tidal in wash, possibly documented in the early eighteenth century. Deep silt deposits found in Trench 2 also point to a similar - if not the same - event; the extreme uniformity of the silts and the fact that they buried a large sandstone wall underscores this point. The latter structure is inferred as a possible quay wall and its stratification beneath part of the smithy complex suggests a construction date before the nineteenth century; tip layers containing nineteenth century finds and demolition material sealing the wall augment this idea. Tipping is inferred as a phase of ground make-up associated with the development of the nineteenth century quay following the abandonment of the site's earlier features.