Monument record 10293 - medieval building at the Elliptical 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.

Following the removal of almost all traces of the Roman baths at the Elliptical building in the early medieval period, a substantial stone structure was constructed using the robbed out Roman stone. The building was rectangular in plan with its long axis on an east-west alignment over the main body of the baths. The extent of foundations recorded suggested the building included a cellar. (1).

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