Site Event/Activity record ECH6309 - Archaeological Evaluation at Dee House, Chester

An archaeological evaluation consisting of five trenches measuring 1.5m by 1.5m in plan was carried out at Dee House, Chester, CH1 1SN. The evaluation was implemented in order to provide additional information regarding the depth of significant archaeological remains on a previously uninvestigated part of the Dee House site. The site lies within the Chester Area of Archaeological Importance, designated under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and the Chester City Conservation Area, designated in 1969 by Chester City Council. The site overlies part of a Scheduled Monument, known as Roman Amphitheatre (National Ref no:1004638), which is also Grade I listed as Remains of Roman Amphitheatre (List entry no:1375863). The site also contains the Grade II Listed Building known as Dee House. The site is of international archaeological significance owing to it containing the buried remains of Chester's Roman Amphitheatre. The data from the results of the five trenches has been used to produce several new schematic sections across the Dee House site to supplement sections created as part of the Desk Based Assessment produced in 2015. This data has been supplemented by information regarding the cellarage on the Souter's Lane side of the site provided by Russell Geomatics Ltd. The information has also been used to predict the limit of disturbance on the western edge of the site associated with the former course of the Souter's Lane cutting. The excavation trenches produced artefacts of pottery, clay tobacco pipe, glass, ceramic building material as well as animal bone and shell. All of these material categories have been subject to specialist assessment, reports reproduced in full in the appendices to the report The purpose of the evaluation exercise at Dee House was to establish some baseline data regarding the depth of significant archaeology in an area of the site which had not been previously investigated. For this reason, all five trenches were only excavated to the top of significant archaeology and the depth of archaeological deposits associated with the Roman amphitheatre was not always established. Significant archaeology was taken to be in situ surfaces, structures or deposits associated with the original Dee House building or earlier phases of the site. In Trenches 1 and 2 this was taken to be a cobbled surface which is likely to be 19th century in date. In Trenches 4 and 5 it was the uppermost deposits associated with a possible backfilled cellar dating to the early 18th century. Whilst, in Trench 3 significant archaeology was taken to be the undated sandstone surface identified at the base of excavation. The backfill deposits identified in Trenches 4 and 5 are thought to be associated with a single cut feature which most likely represents the cellar to a building formerly occupying the site. This cellared building was demolished in the early part of the 18th century and may well have been removed in preparation for the construction of the historic core to Dee House. The ceramic building materials and decorative plaster work recovered from the backfill would suggest that the cellared building could have been late Medieval in origin with 16th/17th century embellishments. The building may be shown on Speed's map of Chester of c.1610. Trench 1 revealed earlier archaeology in the form of a series of inter-cutting pits of Medieval or earlier date. This pitting is not unusual within the context of the site and earlier excavations in 2004-05 identified clusters of Medieval pits on the eastern side of Dee House. These pits are likely to be located in the rear of Medieval tenements originally fronting on to Souter's Lane. Truncated Roman seating bank deposits were identified in Trenches 1 and 4; however, no traces of amphitheatre wall were identified in the trenches. The sandstone surface identified in Trench 3 might represent the upper horizon of the external Roman road to the amphitheatre; which has been previously identified on the north-western arc of the amphitheatre during the 2004-6 excavations. The evaluation has been unable to either confirm or deny the presence of a western entrance to the amphitheatre. The data from the results of the five trenches has been used to produce several new schematic sections across the Dee House site (FIGURE 13 TO16) to supplement sections created as part of the Desk Based Assessment produced in 2015 (Document reference LP1827C-DBA-v1.3). This data has been supplemented by information regarding the cellarage on the Souter's Lane side of the site provided by Russell Geomatics Ltd (FIGURE 15). This information has also been used to predict the limited of disturbance on the western edge of the site associated with the former course of the Souter's Lane cutting (FIGURE 17).