Monument record 8285/2 - Roman east-west alley at Crook Street

Archaeological investigations on the east side of Crook Street encountered evidence of a centurion’s house of the First Cohort in 1990 following the demolition of a warehouse. Several phases of activity were encountered at the site comprising several internal walls of an early Roman structure interpreted as a centurion’s house (CHER 8298) followed by a period of limited activity interpreted as the second century ‘military hiatus’ period followed by a renewed period of construction in the early third century when the centurion’s house was shifted south, perhaps so that the alley between it and the adjacent barrack block could be widened. (1)

The earliest evidence for the alley dates to this late Roman period and comprised traces of a compacted surface at least 2.40m wide interpreted as the alley with a later north-south aligned drain entering the north wall of the centurion’s house (1)

<1> Chester Archaeology, 1990, Excavation records for Crook Street, Chester (Unpublished Report). SCH6616.

<2> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I (Book). SCH3556.