Site Event/Activity record ECH6640 - Interim Statement: Archaeological Monitoring Of Utility Trench, Block 4 Development, Bollands Court, Chester

As part of an ongoing wider development of land at Bollands Court, Commonhall Street, Chester, the refurbishment of an existing building (referred to as Block 4: centring on NGR SJ 40463 66151) required the excavation of new utility trench. An archaeological watching brief was undertaken on the 6th-7th November 2018, to monitor the excavation of this trench. The trench measured c. 0.5m wide and was machine excavated along the west side of the Block 4 building to a general depth of c. 1.1m and overall length of approximately 18m; the trench followed a roughly north to south alignment from the south-west corner of the building to an existing manhole located to the north. The observation of the utility trench has demonstrated that although archaeological deposits do survive beneath the current ground surface, the uppermost 1.0m of these deposits do not appear to be of particular archaeological significance. These results are generally in keeping with that of previous archaeological and geotechnical interventions within the vicinity of the Block 4 building where deep deposits of soil, generally dated to the post-medieval period, were shown to seal significant archaeology of the Roman period encountered at depth (Earthworks 2002; Earthworks 2018; Gifford 2008). (1)