Monument record 14148 - Excavated Post Medieval Features, St Mary's Community Centre

<1> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2016, Proposed Replacement of Church Hall at St Mary's Without the Walls, Overleigh Road. Handbridge. An Archaeological Evaluation, p.33 (Client Report). SCH8031.

An archaeological evaluation comprising 9 trial trenches was undertaken in 2016 at St. Mary's Church, Handbridge, in advance of the demolition of the existing Church Hall and the erection of a new Community Centre. Five of the trenches contained evidence for post medieval activity. In three of the trenches (1, 2, 5) extensive pitting was recorded penetrating deep into the natural clay subsoil, possibly representing clay extraction pits. The back fill of one pit contained fragments of soft, friable brick suggesting that the clay may have been used for brick manufacture. Pottery and tobacco pipe fragments from these trenches indicated a seventeenth to eighteenth century date for the clay extraction. Other post medieval features included a gully in trench 3, probably a property boundary, and a brick drain in trench 9.

<2> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2017, St. Mary's Community Centre, St. Mary's Church, Overleigh Road, Handbridge, Chester: An Archaeological Strip & Map Excavation, p.17-19 (Client Report). SCH8359.

Following on from the 2016 evaluation further archaeological work was undertaken in August 2017 during which the footprint of the new Community Centre was targeted for a strip, map and sample excavation. More features of post medieval date were recorded including a ditch, probably a boundary ditch, measuring 1.5m wide, with steep sides and a rounded base. Finds recovered from the ditch indicate a late post medieval date. To the south-west of the boundary there was a rectangular area of orange-red burnt clay, ash and coal, measuring 5.4m by 2.2m, which has been interpreted as a brick kiln. The ghost impression of lines of bricks stacked within the kiln were still visible. The remains of two bricks were recovered from the excavation.