Building record 11433 - Anchor Motor Company, Pepper Street

<1> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2013, Proposed Redevelopment of the Former Habitat Unit, Pepper Street, Chester and Archaeological Evaluation, R3530 (Client Report). SCH7239.

The Anchor Motor Company was established on the south side of Pepper Street in the 1930s and contained a car showroom and garage complex. It also incorporated the 19th century former chapel on the site. During WWII the company manufactured aircraft parts as part of the war effort. A review of the archives undertaken by Earthworks Archaeological Services identified map evidence for the construction of three underground air raid shelters as well as records of aircraft manufacture from 1942 onwards. This research highlights the preservation of the interior of the building in the present structure.

Archaeological investigations at the site in 2013 recorded surviving below ground evidence of the former WWII air raid shelters associated with the Motor Company. The evidence from trench 7 comprised a wall and earlier brick built arch to a vaulted subterranean structure interpreted as a WWII air raid shelter while trenches 8 and 11 also recorded the air raid shelters. Trench 11 also identified a concrete floor at a depth of 1.26m below present ground level. This floor was probably inserted during the war when the factory was employed in the manufacture of aircraft production.

(NOTE: Following further archaeological investigation of this site in 2018, the archive and archaeological evidence has been re-evaluated with a slightly different interpretation, see source 4 for further details.)

<2> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2014, Redevelopment of the Former Habitat Unit, Pepper Street, Chester. A programme of Archaeological Investigation (Client Report). SCH8191.

Further archaeological excavation in 2014 identified subterranean brick-walled, concrete-floored, wide linear pits constructed during the Second World War for the benefit of aircraft manufacturing. Following the abandonment of these features and the return to peacetime activities the bays were simply spanned over with a concrete beams and flooring that allowed the building to revert back to its use as a garage and, more recently, retail premises.

<3> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2017, Proposed Residential Redevelopment on Land off Volunteer Street, Chester: An Archaeological Evaluation, R4047 (Client Report). SCH8287.

In 2017, another four archaeological trial trenches were dug on the site of the former Anchor Motor Company, on land to the rear of numbers 3 to 7 Volunteer Street, in advance of re-development. Evident in trenches 1 and 3, was evidence for further subterranean, brick-lined chambers, similar to those identified in the 2013 and 2014 excavations, and interpreted as pits to contain the cockpit sections of bomber aircraft during the Second World War, as part of an aircraft manufactury.

Also, in trench 4, attempts to break through the concrete floor slab demonstrated that the slab was suspended by concrete beams above another subterranean structure. Exploratory holes revealed rooms with toilets which probably represents a continuation of the air raid shelter recorded in the 2013 excavations.

<4> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2018, Land to the Rear of Volunteer Street, Chester, Cheshire: An Archaeological Watching Brief, R4255 (Client Report). SCH8605.

In 2018, a further archaeological evaluation comprising a watching brief was undertaken during groundworks associated with the re-development of the land at Volunteer Street. Two subterranean structures were encountered following removal of the concrete floor slab that extended across the site, these proved to be more extensive than previously thought during previous investigations. Whilst previously interpreted correctly as used in part as an air raid shelter during the Second World War, following exposure and detailed planning during the watching brief, the subterranean structures do not bear semblance to the plans previously referred to in an earlier report (see Earthworks 2013, 34–5), and it became apparent that an upstanding steel-framed structure located to the south-west of the site was, in fact, the building to which the previously referenced plans apply. Following a brief examination of this building following the current project, it can now be confidently interpreted as the aircraft factory erected in 1942, complete with basement and air raid shelters beneath.

Within the current site, the previous steel-framed structure that occupied this area was constructed as an extension to the Anchor Motor Co. garage located at the corner of Pepper Street and Volunteer Street. This building was constructed for aircraft manufacturing also and it too was furnished with basements and, at least, one air raid shelter; the presence of the air raid shelter was confirmed through signage (SHELTER 3) recorded prior to demolition of the building’s superstructure (see Earthworks 2013, 31). With the exception of the toilet facilities, the specific function of the rooms within both subterranean elements beneath this building remains uncertain. This is largely owing to the absence of any readily interpretable fixtures and fittings. However, there was probably some similarity between the function that these subterranean rooms served in comparison with those located beneath the factory building erected to the south-west. The basement beneath that particular building included a heating chamber and a fuel store along with three air raid shelters. Post-war cartographic sources imply that the building constructed to the south-west was physically connected to those of the newly extended garage complex via a narrow passageway or similar covered route.