Monument record 8295 - Via Principalis (Watergate Street)

The Via Principalis was the main road through the fortress on an east-west alignment joining the West Gate to the East Gate and continuing into the civil settlement. At Chester the via principalis largely underlies Watergate Street and Eastgate Street and provided access many of the most important structures including the granaries just inside the West Gate and the Headquarters building at the centre of the fortress.

Evidence of a road on this alignment in Chester has only rarely been recorded, particularly along Watergate Street where only a short section of a gutter has been recorded at the eastern end of Watergate Street in 2000.

The evidence from Eastgate Street is somewhat better, with a possible road surface discovered in 1840 approximately 2.43m below the present street level with a possible continuation of that surface near the East Gate in 1848.

More recently, archaeological investigations at the junction of Eastgate Street and St Werburgh Street in 2011 during the installation of a gas pipeline identified several compacted pebble surfaces believed to represent the former Roman road contemporary with a road side drain.

<1> Lawson, P H, 1926, Schedule of the Roman Remains of Chester with Maps and Plans, No 29 (Article in Journal). SCH5956.

<2> Chester Archaeology, 2000, Dig News (Newsletter). SCH6374.

<3> Chester City Council Archaeology Service, 2000, The Past Uncovered (Newsletter). SCH6024.

<4> Chester City Council Archaeology Service, 2000, Annual Review 1999-2000 (Newsletter). SCH6056.

<5> Thompson Watkin W. T., 1886, Roman Cheshire: A Description of Roman Remains in the County of Chester, p113 (Book). SCH2878.

<6> Balfour Beatty, 2012, Chester City Centre, Cheshire Gas Improvement Works, R3321 (Client Report). SCH6784.