Site Event/Activity record ECH6464 - Archaeological Monitoring of Test Pits at the Water Tower Gardens, Chester

Ahead of a limited programme of landscaping works at the Water Tower Gardens, Tower Road, Chester (centring on NGR SJ 40019 66518) a number of small test pits were excavated in order to establish the potential level of significant archaeology within the site (see Fig. 1 and Plates 1 and 5). A total six test pits, each measuring c. 0.6m wide and up to c. 1.0m long, were mechanically excavated, under constant archaeological supervision, to an average depth of c. 1.20m. This depth was deemed beyond that envisaged for any potential below ground disturbance associated with the landscaping works. A photographic record was made of each test pit.##Located at the north-western corner of the city, the water tower was built c. 1323 at Chester’s expense to command the medieval port. When built, it stood in the river and protected the quays which lay under the Walls at this point. As the river silted up the tower became stranded on the shore and today it lies about 200m from the bank (Carrington 1994, 68). Combined, the Water Tower and associated connecting spur wall, which connects the tower to the main Walls circuit, are a Grade I listed building (list entry 1376129). Ground level within the general location of the water Tower Gardens lies at approximately 8m above Ordnance Datum. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the deposit sequence encountered in each of the six test pits was strikingly similar. In general, this sequence comprised relatively inclusion-free brown clay-silt sealed beneath seemingly a widespread, dumped layer of soil containing brick and, in some instances, sandstone rubble. This material appears to have been dumped as levelling material across the site during the late post-medieval period, as suggested by the few sherds of pottery recovered from it. In test pit 6, the thin layer of cinders encountered may indicate the presence of a former cinder path or, and perhaps more likely, material dumped in order to aid drainage of the topsoil. To conclude, the excavation of the test pits has demonstrated that, in spite of the close proximity of the site to the base of the medieval Water Tower, no deposits, features or structures – such as preserved quayside installations – of archaeological significance exist within the uppermost 1.20m of ground within the site. Any below ground disturbance associated with the landscaping scheme should not, therefore, require any further archaeological mitigation.