Monument record 8253 - Roman Rubbish Deposits, 5 Bridge Place

A watching brief carried out during structural repairs to Bridge Place in 1977 revealed the northeast bank of the creek, as it existed in the Roman period. Between 8.5m and 14.6m east of the Bridge St. frontage solid sandstone was encountered at a depth of c 4.6m below the present pavement level. At the rear of 5 Bridge Place (c 16.8m east of Bridge St frontage) solid sandstone was reacted at a depth of 1.4m (1, 2, 3).

Finds from one of the bore holes suggest that tipping in the part of the creek under Bridgegate House (either to dispose of rubbish or as deliberate infilling) was Roman, not medieval as once suggested. The finds consist of roof tiles, Samian ware and coarse ware, dating to about AD 100 - 110 (2). An unpublished report from a watching brief carried out between 1983 and 1984 reports similar finds (5).

<1> Anon, 1960, Miscellanea, Thompson F H 1960 47/34-5 (Article in Journal). SCH5866.

<2> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 5/19-27 Carrington P & Ward S 1977 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<3> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, 1/174 Petch D F 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

<4> Strickland T.J & Davey, P.J., 1978, New evidence for Roman Chester: material from the Chester Conference November 1977, /33 (Book). SCH2242.

<5> Chester Archaeology, 1984, Excavation Archive: Chester, Bridgegate House 1984 (Unpublished Report). SCH6725.