Site Event/Activity record ECH5216 - Delamere Bus Station: Archaeological Evaluation (Chester)

An archaeological evaluation during March 2002 in the area of Delamere St. Bus Station, Chester. The fieldwork consisted of the hand excavation of eleven test-pits, together with an assessment of the material retrieved from a bore-hole study which was carried out simultaneously by Casella Stranger. The presence of a deep, former stone quarry, identified on cartographic evidence and essentially centring on the area below much of the hardstanding presently forming a large part of the bus station, was confirmed. The results from the boreholes indicate that the disused quarry was used as a convenient dumping ground for the city during the late post-medieval period. Roman deposits and features were identified at a shallow depth on the west side of the area, closest to the line of Upper Northgate St., but no complex, deeply stratified archaeology was noted. In the area of the Gorse Stacks car park, deep Rom and features of considerable interest and potential were identified on the south side. In broad terms, significant archaeology of Roman date survives in the area north of the quarry and on the south side of the Gorse Stacks car park. Further, the quarry fills are considered to hold archaeological merit.