Monument record 10290 - Post medieval stone robbing of the Elliptical building

An extensive programme of redevelopment in the centre of Chester during the 1960s, termed the ‘Central Redevelopment Programme’ included several phases of archaeological investigation carried out over a period of six years, however much of the work took the form of rapid, emergency recording under the auspices of several different excavators with little or no money set aside for publication. As a result the site archive has been fragmented and to a large extent, lost. Also the extent of Roman remains uncovered (at least five major buildings) necessarily took priority over evidence from other periods and as a result, the medieval and later archaeological evidence is only briefly discussed.

While the remains of the Roman baths were almost entirely removed in the first part of the medieval period, the below ground remains of the Elliptical building (CHER 8408) itself appeared to survive until the post medieval period when a series of robber trenches containing material of a late 17th to early 18th century date were recorded (1).

<1> Mason, D. J. P., 2000, Excavations at Chester: The Elliptical building: An image of the Roman world?, p151-152 (Monograph). SCH6158.