Monument record 8669 - Roman Plough Marks and Sand/Sandstone Layer excavated at the former BT Exchange Building, St. John Street, Chester

<1> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2017, Redevelopment at The Former BT Exchange Building, St. John Street, Chester: An Archaeological Excavation, R4033 (Client Report). SCH8268.

Following on from an archaeological evaluation in 2006 (ECH4135), a limited programme of excavation was carried out on land at the former BT Exchange Building, St. John Street, Chester, between December 2006 and January 2007, prior to development of the site.

Roman period deposits were identified and include two plough scars, each aligned roughly east–west, and spaced approximately 0.60m apart. They were encountered at the level of the natural clay but were almost certainly cut through a layer of pink-brown sand-clay that probably represented a plough soil. Sealing the postulated plough soil was a c. 0.15m thick layer of red sand and sandstone brash material overlain by a 0.20–0.30m thick layer of compacted red-brown sand, containing small fragments of crushed red sandstone and patches of red sand. Both these layers may have been deposited as levelling material, perhaps for a surface, or else represent dumped material resulting from activities occurring nearby.

Dating for the above activity is limited to a handful of small sherds or, rather, crumbs of pottery. The plough soil layer produced a sherd from the rim of an imported South Gaulish samian vessel, dated c. AD 90–110, along with two fragments of Holt oxidised ware dated c. AD 90/100–130. The sandstone brash layer, produced a further sliver of South Gaulish samian, and a small sherd from a probable Gaulish amphorae, dating from the the mid first century AD. The sand/crushed sandstone layer produced small fragments of Roman period ceramic building materials only.