Site Event/Activity record ECH5394 - Archaeological Excavation at Chester Castle in 2012

During February 2012 SNM Pipelines Ltd undertook an archaeological excavation on and at the base of the earth mount (motte) within the grounds of Chester Castle. The aim of this excavation was to establish the existence and location of any surviving archaeological remains and to record their location, extent and character. Two trenches were excavated falling within the boundary of the scheduled monument. Trench 1 was situated on the front of the curtain wall to the west of the inner bailey, and Trench 2 was close to Harrison's semi-circular forecourt wall. Due to the presence of previous gas pipe works and former gas pipes no archaeologically significant layers were affected and therefore the identified archaeology within the exposed section was preserved in situ. Trench 1 provided an insight into the material used to construct the earthen mount on which Chester Castle sits and noted the disturbed motte material in front of the Castle wall identified as a foundation trench. It is apparent that at least within the upper levels of the motte the main material used for its construction was sand an local crushed sandstone. Trench 2 revealed greatly disturbed material due to the previous gas pipe works with the extensive layer of soil explained by the possible infilling of the ditch that surrounded the semi circular forecourt wall with a layer of demolition material at the base of the trench interpreted as the remnants of from the works by Harrison during the late eighteenth - nineteenth centuries.