Site Event/Activity record ECH6297 - Chester Northgate Drainage Proposals: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment

This report presents the results of an archaeological desk-based assessment undertaken by OA North in late June/early July 2016 for two study areas adjacent to the Chester Northgate development site (centred on SJ 4039 6638), one extending broadly south and west from the development’s south-west corner, the other northwest of the development boundary, on behalf of Chester West and Cheshire Council. The study areas were assessed for their archaeological significance in order to inform proposals for the possible construction of new surface water drains for the proposed development, potentially emptying into the Shropshire Union Canal and/or the River Dee. Overall, five potential routes were assessed, three extending north and west of the development site, one of which drains into the canal, the other two into the river, and two extending from the south-west corner of the site (one running south, the other broadly west), both draining directly into the Dee. The report includes an outline of the archaeological and historical background of the assessment areas, covering all periods, which provides a context for the results of the archaeological study. The assessment examined all available relevant primary and secondary sources; all sites identified during the course of the work were listed in a gazetteer and plotted onto maps of the study areas. The study areas lie partially within Chester’s Area of Archaeological Importance (AAI), within which all significant archaeological remains are afforded statutory protection under the terms of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act (1979). Additionally, they encompass parts of 14 of the city’s Archaeological Character Areas, as defined by the Chester Archaeological Characterisation as part of the Chester Urban Archaeological Database (UAD) Project. The Character Areas form an integral part of the Chester Archaeological Plan, which was endorsed by the Cheshire West and Chester Local Development Framework Panel as a key Evidence Base Document supporting the preparation of the Chester Local Plan. In total, 142 Monuments of archaeological or historical significance, and 39 archaeological interventions, or Events (as defined and recorded in the Chester Urban Archaeological Database), were identified within, or immediately adjacent to, the study areas. One of the Monuments is prehistoric, 41 are Roman in date, there are two assigned to the early medieval (‘Saxon’) period, 32 are later medieval, and 66 are attributed to the post-medieval period. The Roman Monuments relate both to the legionary fortress principally elements of the western defences, and the civil settlement (canabae legionis) that grew up outside the fortress. Early medieval sites are limited to a possible gravel road surface and the discovery of a coin hoard, whilst the late medieval and post-medieval monuments are associated with the development of the city from the twelfth century to modern times. A significant proportion of the post-medieval sites relate to the development of the Old Port and the Shropshire Union Canal during the eighteenth- to nineteenth century. The study has indicated that there is the potential for the survival of significant archaeological deposits across much of the study areas, though preservation is likely to be highly variable and much damage has probably already been done to archaeological remains beneath the modern roads, as a result of roadworks and the insertion of services beneath the carriageways. The paucity of data pertaining to levels of preservation beneath the roads in particular, and the lack of information currently available on the nature and depth of groundworks required for the insertion of any new drainage infrastructure, means that the potential impact of the proposals on buried archaeological remains is difficult to gauge. However, it seems probable that, unless substantial use can be made of existing service trenches, significant ground disturbance will be unavoidable, and sensitive archaeological deposits will be damaged or destroyed in some areas.