Site Event/Activity record ECH6423 - Archaeological Monitoring at the Pocket Park, George Street, Chester

Ahead of a limited programme of landscaping works within the narrow strip of open land known as the Pocket Park, George Street, Chester (centering on NGR SJ 40514 66738) (see Fig. 1 and Plate 1), a linear test trench was excavated in order to establish both the depth and location of existing utility services. The excavation of this trench was also deemed a suitable opportunity to gauge the potential level of significant archaeology within the site, and to assess the need for any further mitigation. A trench measuring c. 0.6m wide and up to c. 6.0m long (see Plate 3), was manually excavated, under constant archaeological supervision, to an average depth of c. 0.70m. This depth was deemed beyond that envisaged for any potential below ground disturbance associated with the landscaping works. A photographic record was made of the trench. The deposit sequence encountered comprised topsoil over a seemingly widespread, dumped layer of sandstone, brick and mortar rubble. This rubble material appears to have been dumped as levelling material across the site, perhaps during earlier landscaping activities and to aid drainage of the subsequent topsoil. The rubble was deposited no earlier than the late post-medieval period or later. Indeed, the soil beneath the rubble layer was firmly dated to the post-medieval period through the few ceramic finds recovered from it. To conclude, the excavation of the test trench has demonstrated that no deposits, features or structures of archaeological significance exist within the uppermost 0.70m+ of ground within the site. Following on-site discussions of the results with the Development Control Archaeologist, it was concluded that any further below ground disturbance associated with the landscaping scheme would not require further archaeological mitigation.