Monument record 8685 - Potential Roman Road Deposit, Watergate Street

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2018, Chester Northgate Redevelopment: Archaeological Evaluation Report, R4331, p.7 (Client Report). SCH8737.

An archaeological test pit (test pit 4) was excavated in 2017 as part of the Northgate redevelopment scheme. The test pit was situated towards the south-west corner of the development site, between the Guildhall, on the west, and No 68 Watergate Street, to the east. Significant archaeological remains were revealed at a depth of 0.95-1m beneath the modern surface (c 21.98-22.03m aOD), comprising a compacted layer of sandstone, Roman brick/tile fragments and a few waterworn cobbles. This was recorded in a narrow strip, c 0.4m wide and 1.1m in length, adjacent to the upstanding brick wall of 68 Watergate Street, which formed the east boundary of the test pit. These stones may have been part of a Roman road surface, another part of which was seen nearby in 2007. The potential road deposit was overlain by circa 0.45-0.5m of dark earth, comprising a brownish-grey silty clay loam, overlain by a dark grey silty loam. The top of this (at c 22.48-22.53m aOD), which could be regarded as the uppermost significant archaeological horizon, was cut by the construction trench for the west wall of 68 Watergate Street, the edge of which was only 50-70mm beyond the outer face of the wall itself. This was overlain by a narrow strip of crushed red sandstone, which was in turn overlain by deposits associated with the surfacing of the modern lane. On the west side of the pit, most earlier deposits had been removed by a modern pipe trench, located immediately beneath the surface of the lane, though the putative Roman road surface appeared to extend at least partly beneath this.