Site Event/Activity record ECH6948 - The Bridgegate City Walls, Chester: Archaeological Observation and Recording during Structural Investigations

Archaeological monitoring and recording were undertaken in August 2021 during structural investigations to the Bridgegate, Chester (centring on NGR SJ 4067 6583). The walls, towers, gates and posterns of the city are listed under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (List entry number: 1006785) and are considered of national importance. Structural defects to the Bridgegate were recently identified and a programme of restoration and repair is currently being devised. However, to further inform the process, a series of trial pits was considered necessary at both bridge deck level and at the base of the eastern part of the gate structure. The trial pits excavated at bridge deck level confirmed the presence of steel tie rods inserted during more recent repairs, whilst those excavated at the base revealed a variety of foundation characteristics to both the east end of the gate structure and the adjoining stretch of the City Wall. Deposits encountered in these pits were dated to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (1)