Site Event/Activity record ECH6688 - Archaeological Watching Brief Report: St Mary's Hill, Chester

An archaeological Watching Brief was carried out in March 2019 at St Mary’s Hill, Chester during emergency water mains maintenance works. This included the monitoring of the excavation of a trench to expose the water mains. The monitoring was necessary due to the site area being within Chester City Centre Conservation Area. It also sits within the Chester and Boughton Area of Archaeological Importance, Archaeological Character Zone 16, and Zone 18 of Chester Urban Archaeological Plan. The area has been in use since at least the Roman period, when a mansio was located very close to the site. During the Medieval and Post Medieval periods, the area continued to be important with St Mary’s Church and Chester Castle bordering the site. The Archaeological Watching Brief revealed, two sandstone walls. One possibly Roman in date with fragments of Roman ceramic and CBM from within the feature, 0.48m below ground level. The natural sandstone brash was encountered between 0.8 and 1.2m below grand level. (1)