Monument record 8028/5 - Legionary Parade Ground, Southern end of Frodsham Street

<1> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2017, New Drainage Works in Frodsham Street, Chester: An Archaeological Watching Brief, R4041 (Client Report). SCH8276.

As part of a wider programme of refurbishment, new subsurface drainage facilities were required to serve Frodsham Street, Chester. Between August 2016 and February 2017, the groundworks for this drainage were subject to an archaeological watching brief, as it is known that the current line of Frodsham Street overlies the Roman legionary parade ground of the first century AD.

The initial phase of the watching brief, towards the southern end of the new drainage trench, revealed basements to a terrace of 19th century properties (see …..) that once extended eastwards out into Frodsham Street prior to the widening of the street in the mid-20th century; these basements had truncated earlier deposits. However, once the groundworks passed the northernmost and final basement, at a distance of approximately 23m north of the Frodsham Street junction with Foregate Street, in situ archaeological deposits were immediately encountered, including a stone surface interpreted as that of the Roman legionary parade ground. It was a densely packed surface constructed from angular and rounded fragments of red sandstone. It was encountered at a depth of circa 1.55m below current ground level and traced northwards for a distance of some 5m. The finds of pottery retrieved from the silts that accumulated over this surface imply that it was no longer functioning as a regularly maintained area, at least at this particular location, by the second half of the 2nd century. The neglect of the parade ground may coincide with the absence of a considerable proportion of the men of the 20th legion from Chester between circa 120 and 210 during its participation in the construction first of Hadrian’s Wall and then the Antonine Wall. Decades of archaeological excavations have demonstrated that during this period there was a decline in military activity in certain parts of the fortress, with the complete abandonment of large areas of the interior and a widespread failure to maintain the fabric and infrastructure of the base as a whole.

A series of silt deposits, up to 0.3m in depth and containing pottery fragments dating to the mid to late second century AD, were recorded over the stone surface of the parade ground. Cut into these silt deposits was a sandstone slab floor and post hole relating to a structure dating to the third century (see…... ).