Site Event/Activity record ECH5144 - The City Walls: Former Cestrian Builders Yard, Chester in 1984 (Northgate Gardens)

Further investigations of the city walls were carried out in 1984 at two locations: the first being the junction of the buried Roman masonry and later above ground wall at the Engineering Yard (ECH3159), also previously examined in 1980, and the second area was in the builders yard, close to Morgan's Mount. The work assessed how much Roman masonry survived at these two locations (1). Site is recorded as Northgate Gardens 1 (NG1) in the Roman Defences Monograph (2) In this location, an open section can be seen of the deposits beneath the garden of No 1 Northgate Street to the east. In 1984 this section was cleaned and extended down to reveal the lower courses of the Roman defences. The earliest phase of activity appears to be marked by the lower two courses of a dry built sandstone wall constructed from massive roughly dressed blocks. (2)