Monument record 10292 - Medieval stone robbing of the Elliptical building baths

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 seven 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.

Evidence of stone robbing of the Roman Elliptical building baths (CHER 8161) was encountered over much of the site although dating of this activity could only generally be attributed to between 1150 and 1400. (1).

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