Site Event/Activity record ECH5112 - Excavations at Priory Place, Chester in 1989 (Former Grosvenor Club, Vicars Lane)

Excavations on the site of the former Grosvenor Club on Vicars Lane/Priory Place to the east of the Roman fortress. Parts of two buildings have been located together with an alley or courtyard between them. The northern building was most completely excavated with a primary phase dating to the early second century and continued in operation throughout the century with evidence of several new floors and reconstructions of the partitions. The entrance on the southern wall appears to have been built on a grand scale. Sometime in the second century the structure appears to have developed a major structural fault and the southern wall started to collapse outwards and despite measures to curtail it the building was rebuilt at the end of the century this time with a verandah on the south side. The southern building appears to have gone through several phases of alteration and at least one major rebuilding during its lifetime. Both internal and external walls were recorded along with several large hearths suggesting light industrial use. Early in the third century the building underwent a major reconstruction and the hearths were buried beneath new floors and the building appears to have become residential (1).