Monument record 10354 - Medieval Stone Robbing, Levelling and Preparation of the Black Friars Site

Evidence for ground preparation, levelling and stone robbing during the early medieval, before the construction of any of the buildings belonging to the Dominican friars had taken place, were found at a number of locations during different excavations. Excavations at Grey Friars House in 1983 (ECH3247) did not reveal any medieval structural remains, but instead a smooth, uniform layer of dark sediment 0.3m deep, overlying the carefully robbed out and levelled remains of a Roman building with a hypocaust (1, 3).

Both Roman tile and building stone had been removed. The excavators suggested that the Roman remains would have probably formed a ruined mound at this time, and the area would have required levelling prior to any new building. Removal of the mound would have revealed large amounts of usable building material. After levelling, a clay deposit appears to have been used to seal the remains left after the removal of uneven debris, and later this deposit was cut into to retrieve the stone and tile (1).

In excavation areas to the north of the church (ECH2850), the first clear (archaeologically identifiable) activity after the foundation of the friary was the robbing of the Roman walls, which probably implies that the demolished remains were lying very close to the medieval ground surface. The robbing trenches could be clearly identified, and rubble accumulated in the areas of lower ground, perhaps deliberately in an attempt to level it prior to the construction of the northern buildings in the precinct (3).

<1> Ward, S. W., 2012, Greyfriars' Court 1976-8 and 1981, p35-36 (Article in Monograph). SCH6581.

<2> Webster L & Cherry J, 1980, Medieval Britain in 1979 (Article in Journal). SCH5622.

<3> Ward, S. W., 1990, Excavations at Chester: The Lesser Medieval Religious Houses - Sites Investigated, 1964-83 (Grosvenor Museum Archaeological Excavation & Survey Reports) (Monograph). SCH1193.