Site Event/Activity record ECH6400 - Land at Wrexham Road, Chester, Cheshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report

An archaeological evaluation on land at Wrexham Road, Chester, was undertaken in November 2015. The work comprised the excavation of 24 trenches measuring 50m by a minimum of 1.8m in advance of a residential housing development. The site had been subject to a Desk-Based Assessment (2013) and a scheduled medieval moated site lies immediately to the east of the proposed trenches. In addition, the eastern half of the application site has been subject to a geophysical survey (ECH6394). The archaeological evaluation failed to identify any significant archaeology within the site boundary. Remains associated with ridge and furrow cultivation were identified along with two tree bowls and a spread of burnt material associated with a modern bonfire. The identified furrows respect the extant field boundaries, which have remained largely fixed since the earliest detailed map of the Site (the 1845 Tithe map of Marlston cum Lache). No remains associated with the probable medieval manor house at Marlston, defined by the moated enclosure to the south, were identified. Aerial photography has identified ridge and furrow extending across the moated enclosure, indicating that it post-dates the manor house and its moated enclosure. No remains associated with the Roman field system, water holes and road, recorded during excavations at Chester Business Park, were identified. The Chester Business Park excavation was situated 400 m to the east and it had been anticipated that some continuation of this field system would be identified within the current evaluation. The lack of any associated Romano-British activity within the development boundary may be attributable to the height difference between the two excavation areas, with the Chester Business Park situated c. 5 m higher than the current development area. It may be that the poorly draining clays of the region made the lower lying development area unsuitable for agriculture during the Roman period. Finds were recovered from all 24 of the trenches excavated during the evaluation, deriving almost exclusively from topsoil contexts, with a few finds recovered from subsoil. The finds, dating from the seventeenth century onwards, comprise pottery sherds, ceramic building material, clay tobacco pipes, glass fragments and two iron objects. (1)