Site Event/Activity record ECH4644 - Number 41-43 Chester Road, Northwich

Two visits were made to the site during construction works for a new rear extension to the exisitng buildings as part of their conversion to a new retail store (Tesco Metro). At the time of the first visit, the grading of the site for the laying of the concrete slab was underway. This involved some ground reduction but did not penetrate below the obviously disturbed modern layers. At the time of the second visit, excavation of the strip foundations around the perimeter of the new extension was underway. Only the western arm had been excavated and at the northern end this had exposed natural boulder clay but there was no evidence of Roman features or Roman artefacts in the spoil. In the southern half of the trench a deep silt-filled feature had been exposed and was being bottomed to allow a stable concrete foundation. It was in excess of 3m deep and at the base was a black organic fill with clean silt filling the rest of the feature. It was initially thought that this might be Roman but the basal fill produced obviously modern rubbish so it appears to be be of recent origin and had, perhaps, been backfilled with river dredgings. A clay extraction pit is the obvious explanation. In the areas explored, therefore, there was no trace of the Roman barrack blocks seen in Barri Jones's excavations which are thought to have taken place in the car park immediately to the south (the exact site is not clear as there is no report). In addition, Number 43 appears to be the building whose cellar contained the Roman ditch section in either its west or north wall. The cellar, however, has been filled in so this cannot be checked. (1)