Monument record 8321/3 - Structural evidence for possible workshops at Crook Street (south)

A substantial area of the city was subject to archaeological investigations between 1963 and 1965 involving an area to the rear of the plots on Watergate Street and Northgate Street. A series of 24 trenches were investigated in all under the auspices of Mr Petch from the Grosvenor Museum, sadly however the work has never been published due to financial constraints at the time and the available resource is limited to trench plans and the site archive.

The trench plans of the area to the north of Hamilton Place identified a series of features indicating a possible structure in insula 18 of the Roman fortress tentatively interpreted as a workshop area. Trench 9 under what is now the Gateway Theatre identified a section of an east-west aligned exterior wall tentatively identified as the north wall of an east-west aligned building with an internal partition wall extending south at right angles from it. A short distance to the south west, trench 3 also identified wall foundations comprising an east-west aligned external wall tentatively interpreted as the south wall of the same east-west aligned building. (1)

The area to the west of the Elliptical building, known as insula 18, is believed to have been devoted to workshops based on abundant deposits of slag and other industrial waste. The plan conjectured from slight evidence was of large sheds surrounding a central court. The south range was 12m wide and the court behind it 25.5m; the north range at 23m may have had some form of basilican layout. The insula as a whole measured 60m north-south x c.70m east-west. (2)

<1> Chester Archaeology, 1963, Crook Street-Princess Street Site Record (Unpublished Report). SCH6563.

<2> Mason, D. J. P., 2001, Roman Chester: City of the Eagles, p140 (Book). SCH6164.