Site Event/Activity record ECH7170 - St Andrew's Hospital, Denhall, Cheshire: An Archaeological Survey Report

Field survey at the site of St Andrew's Hospital, Denham, Ellesmere Port and Neston, undertaken by the RCHME in 1998. The survey has shown that the tradtional site of the hospital correlates to a complex of buildings and structures situated at the northern edge of a small cove on the Wirral shoreline. The site is badly robbed, but evidence has been found for a possible L-shaped infirmary hall and chapel surrounded by a number of other buildings. Half the area of the hospital seems to overlie the silted floor of the cove, while the other half was constructed on an artificial terrace levelled into the former estuarine scarp. It is suggested that a previously unrecognised stone wall retaining the rear edge of this terrace, now heavily robbed, formed the eastern boundary of the hospital precinct. The terrace is located next to a natural spring which may have been the main source of fresh water for the hospital. A number of potential platforms and banks built out into the cove may represent simple quays for the off-loading of small boats acting as lighters for sea-going vessels anchored further out in the Dee estuary. The documentary evidence for Denhall as an outport of Chester between the 13th and 17th centuries is briefly reviewed. Other principle features identified comprise a series of drainage features located in the cove, also a probable post medieval lime kiln. A trackway running around the edge of the cove presumably gave access to the hospital and the quays.