Monument record 9026 - Possible Saxon Building (Slots) or Drainage Gullies, Goss Street North

During small-scale excavations at the north end of Goss St. in 1973, immediately overlying the demolition rubble of the parts of Roman buildings at this location and south of a group of post holes possibly representing a Saxon building (CHER 9025), were two perpendicular slots forming a corner, also of Saxon period date (3). The two slots were cut into the sandy underlying soil or the re-worked Roman demolition layer where preserved (CHER 9024). Previously interpreted as the remains of a substantial timber building (1), later excavators suggest that they represent drainage gullies (as their basal profile is inconsistent with a slot for a timber building), and that their rectilinear arrangement may indicate they also served as boundary markers (3).

<1> multiple authors, 1974, Excavation Reports and Summaries Sites Observed, 2/15-16 McPeake J 1974 (Article in Journal). SCH5790.

<2> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, 1/287 Thacker A 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

<3> Ward, S. W., 1994, Saxon Occupation within the Roman Fortress: Sites Excavated, 1971-81 (Archaeological Service Excavation & Survey Reports) (Monograph). SCH5486.