Site Event/Activity record ECH5215 - Excavations at Delamere St., 2006 (Chester)

A phased series of works at Delamere St., Chester, undertaken by Birmingham Archaeology during 2006. Five open areas (A-E) were excavated around the edges of a known post-medieval quarry that dominated the centre of the site. The Roman deposits were heavily truncated in the eastern half of the site but remained largely undisturbed to the north. The Roman activity on the site was represented mainly by large sandstone quarry pits reused for the disposal of rubbish. A large quantity of pottery, bone and metal artifacts were recovered from the fills of these pits, dating to the late first to early second centuries. The pottery consisted of a variety of locally made coarsewares as well as imported Gaulish Samian ware. In the eastern half of the site was a well-defined Punic ditch, oriented southwest - northeast, which produced hammerscale from the environmental samples. Along with a substantial quantity of slag recovered form other features it seems likely that metalworking was taking place either onsite or nearby. A second ditch parallel to this was heavily truncated by post-medieval building activity which ranged in date from mid nineteenth to late twentieth century.