Site Event/Activity record ECH6612 - Former Stagecoach, Liverpool Road, Chester: Archaeological Evaluation Report

Archaeological trial trenching was undertaken in May 2018 at the former Stagecoach site, Liverpool Road, Chester, prior to re-development of the site for student housing. Previous archaeological works for this Site have included a Desk-Based Assessment which highlighted that the Site lies within the Archaeological Character Zone 31: Upper Northgate Street, which is an Area of Archaeological Importance, due to the potential for significant Romano-British to post medieval remains; but that the use of the Site as a depot from 1959, and its current use today as a coach depot, is likely to have, at the very least, truncated any extent archaeological remains in the Site, particularly in the western part. Eight trenches were excavated across the site, results demonstrate that the western extent of the site has been heavily truncated, with scalping of the bedrock likely having removed potential archaeological remains. A single feature was exposed and recorded in the western extent of the Site, an isolated area of quarrying, which from borehole Site investigation, is recorded at 9.50m deep. Evaluation trenching in the eastern extent of the Site exposed deeper stratified deposits attesting to the agricultural use of the Site during the later Medieval and post medieval periods. Several ditches and further potential quarrying, or likely sandstone testing, which dates to the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. (1)