Monument record 9047 - Saxon Hearth and Pit Features, 25 Bridge Street

During intensive archaeological excavations at 25 Bridge St. (the Debenhams site) in 2001, a series of pit features and one hearth of Saxon date were identified (1). The features, cut into the accumulated sediment (CHER 9046) overlying the Roman remains at this location, contained a mixture of residual Roman material and finds that date to between the ninth and eleventh century, and an AMS date derived from charred oat seeds from within the hearth fill produced a date of Cal AD 795 – 1000 (2 sigma) (1). The hearth was a circular pit 1.1m in diameter and 0.25m deep, and contained four distinctive fills which had the appearance of concentric circles in plan view (re-cutting of the hearth). This complex series of features are somehow related to a timber building of similar date also recorded by this excavation (CHER 9048).

<1> Garner D, 2008, Excavations at Chester: 25 Bridge Street 2001. Two thousand years of urban life in microcosm (Monograph). SCH6160.