Site Event/Activity record ECH6808 - Land at Southern End of Newgate Street, Chester: Service Watching Brief

Land at Southern End of Newgate Street, Chester: Service Watching Brief During June 2019 a void opened up beneath a tree set in the paved area at the southern end of Newgate Street, just to the north of its junction with the eastern end of Pepper Street and to the west of the New Gate on the city’s Scheduled city walls (SJ4074 6615). The tree and its roots were subsequently removed, along with the loose soil, and the hole was re-filled with compacted aggregate before the area was re-paved. During this process, several visits were made by APAS, to observe the operations and check for the presence of significant archaeology. In the event, only disturbed ground was encountered, which seems to result from the mass of services in this area, and no significant deposits were recognised in the disturbed area which, although restricted in extent and irregular in plan, reached a depth of c 1m in places. These results confirm the patterns seen during works in 2011 by Earthworks Archaeological Services (R3326 in CHER) which was carried out in connection with works to improve the presentation of and access to the New Gate area. These works revealed significant archaeological remains but the excavation of Test Pit 10, between the wall and the 2019 void, revealed only modern disturbance to a depth of c 1m which was thought to result from the insertion of multiple services. Thus, the observations made in 2019 would seem to confirm that much of the patch of open ground beyond the southern limits of the buildings on the east side of Newgate Street, up to Pepper Street and extending to the city walls has been seriously disturbed by modern services to a depth of at least 1m.