Site Event/Activity record ECH4935 - The City Walls: Monitoring of Repairs at the Roodee, Chester in 1883 - 1884

Repair and maintenance carried out by Mr Jones, City Surveyor in 1883 - 1884. The Roodee, near the Black Friars: Several large stones erroneously described as footings but rather appear to be the wall fabric itself (1). The present stones were recorded at a height of 2.7m above the surface extended for a further 4.5m below it. Shrubsole suggests this section of the wall to be eighteenth to nineteenth century (6). Following its discovery in 1865 (ECH3064), excavations were carried out at the so-called Roman 'quay wall' in the 1880s, representing the only archaeological activity at this site (7). The wall was traced to a depth of 4.6m below ground, without reaching its base, was 2.4m wide, and backed by about 1.5m of concrete, and had pilaster-like buttresses on its outer face at regular intervals. At its best preserved section, it stands 3m above the present ground level (1).