Site Event/Activity record ECH6328 - Archaeological Investigations at the former Habitat Unit, Pepper Street, Chester

Following the excavation of a series of test pits in September 2013, Earthworks Archaeology carried out limited and targeted excavations, between June and September 2014, on land at the junction of Pepper Street and Volunteer Street Chester. Although limited in scope and extent, the targeted excavations at Pepper Street have nevertheless uncovered traces of occupation and activity dating from the Roman period through to the Second World War. The impressive assemblage of post-medieval pottery recovered is particularly noteworthy. The Pepper Street excavations are perhaps best seen as an extensive, detailed assessment of the survival and potential of the archaeology across this area of the city where little in the way of controlled archaeological investigation has previously taken place. The project has confirmed the presence of complex stratified archaeological remains and the information retrieved will assist in the future management of the archaeology. The development represented, in essence, a major refurbishment and associated below-ground disturbance in percentage terms was minimal. Although limited in scope and extent, the excavations at Pepper Street have nevertheless uncovered traces of occupation and activity dating from the Roman period through to the Second World War. The earliest archaeology recorded consisted of a road or track surface dated stratigraphically and by general character and appearance to the Roman period (Period 1). The surface, constructed from small pebbles and fragments of Roman period ceramic building materials, is typical of construction methods used during the Roman period in Chester. The excavation of trench 5:1 was limited and did not therefore allow either the full width or orientation of this surface to be established with confidence. However, a similar surface recorded close to the Pepper Street frontage at the east end of the site during the evaluation stage of this project, may be taken as evidence for a road or track aligned east–west that effectively formed the forerunner to Pepper Street. This road may, therefore, represent the perimeter patrol track which skirted the outer edge of the defensive ditch surrounding the Roman legionary fortress (Mason 2012, 62). Evidence for Roman occupation to the south of the postulated patrol track and away from the later Pepper Street frontage was limited to a handful of sherds of pottery and ceramic building materials from a soil layer immediately above the road surface in trench 5:1, and within a worked soil deposit identified in trenches 5:2 to 5:4. The lack of material culture does suggest, however, that this area – so close to the fortress - was not intensively occupied and may have been kept deliberately clear. Undoubtedly, further evidence for activity, or indeed inactivity, during the Roman period would have been forthcoming closer to the Pepper Street frontage in Area 1 trenches 1:1 and 1:2, but the mitigation strategy adopted for the archaeology avoided extensive investigations in this location. By contrast, evidence for settlement during the late Saxon period (Period 2) was more forthcoming and structural remains, in the form of post holes, were positively identified. Sherds of late Saxon Chester ware pottery dating to the 10th–11th centuries were recovered from deposits in Area 5, trenches 5:1 and 5:3–5:4. But the most compelling evidence for occupation was recorded in trench 5:4 and 5:5. The post holes recorded here did not form any coherent structural ground plan and the circumstances did not allow any phasing to be proposed by which to map the timber structures, but this is understandable considering the limited areas available for excavation. The sandstone brash spread encountered in trenches 5:3 and 5:4, and at the same general stratigraphic level as the post holes in the latter trench, may have represented the remains of an associated surface; indeed, similar brash surfacing, post holes and linear slots dated to the 10th century were recorded at 26–42 Lower Bridge Street (Mason 1985, 8–10) no more than 100m to the southwest of the Pepper Street site. Clearly, more open-area type archaeological excavation would be required in the location of the Area 5 trenches in order to elucidate the character, function, and extent of this structural evidence. Both the medieval, and transitional period from medieval to post-medieval (Periods 3 and 4), were largely represented by postulated gully-like features in trench 5:1 and homogeneous soil deposits elsewhere in Area 5. Again, the mitigation strategy adopted for Area 1 prevented the excavation of soil deposits predating the early post-medieval period. For Period 4, the most substantial evidence for the establishment of plots was represented by the cobblestone path recorded in trench 1:1, positioned close to and set perpendicular to the Pepper Street frontage. The north–south alignment of this pathway was firmly established owing to the alignment of an integral drainage channel. The path may have provided access to the rear of plots located either side of it but, unfortunately, due to the combination of limited excavation space to the west of the path, destruction of archaeology by a cellar located immediately to the east, and the shallow formation level required for the new floor slab, evidence for any such plots or properties which may have flanked the path was not forthcoming. The survival of this surface does nevertheless confirm the presence of substantial, intact islands of complex and stratified archaeology between widespread later intrusions. Period 5 was represented by a postulated oven feature and several deeply-cut pits, with most of the excavated trenches containing at least one such feature. The presence of the suggested oven and pits again points towards the former presence of plots stretching back from the Pepper Street frontage and is perhaps indicative of an increase in the density of occupation in this area of Chester from the 16th century onwards. The ceramics retrieved from a truncated pit in trench 1:1 demonstrate the Continental connections that the inhabitants of Chester benefited from during the first half of the 17th century, with pottery from France, the Low Countries and Germany complementing the everyday local and regionally-produced ceramic products. The sherds of Continental pottery add to the growing number of such imports recorded in Chester. The pit recorded in trench 5:1 was particularly rich in ceramics and included a number of pharmaceutical jars, the presence of which can be taken perhaps as evidence for an apothecary in residence in Pepper Street during the second half of the 17th century. The archaeological remains relating to the later post-medieval period (Periods 6 and 7) were largely limited to scant structural remains in Area 1 and 18th-century, artefact-rich finds assemblages in both Areas 1 and 3. This limitation was largely the result of the removal of the post-17th century stratigraphy in Area 5 caused by the insertion of deep subterranean cellar structures during Period 7, and the aircraft manufacturing pits constructed during the Second World War (Period 8). The building and structural remains observed were limited to severely truncated sandstone and brick foundations, cellars and associated surfaces located within and to the rear of premises fronting onto Pepper Street. More recently, and within living memory for many, the archaeology of the 20th century (Period 8) was represented by subterranean brick-walled, concrete-floored, wide linear pits constructed during the Second World War for the benefit of aircraft manufacturing. Following the abandonment of these features and the return to peacetime activities the bays were simply spanned over with a concrete beams and flooring that allowed the building to revert back to its use as a garage and, more recently, retail premises.