Monument record 8692 - Excavated Roman Drain, The Old Bishop's Palace

<1> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 2019, The Old Palace, The Groves, Chester, Cheshire: An Archaeological Watching Brief, R4441 (Client Report). SCH8887.

A stone-lined and partially capped drain of probable Roman date (Area C, Feature F8) was recorded during a watching brief, in 2018-2019, monitoring groundworks associated with the extension and refurbishment of the Old Bishop's Palace. The feature was aligned north-south, and consisited of a vertically-walled and flat-bottomed, shallow channel measuring approximately 0.50m wide, 0.30m deep and in excess of 1.70m in length, cut into the surrounding sandstone bedrock. Where better preserved, owing perhaps to the bedrock undulating somewhat and the feature avoiding truncation, a single course of roughly squared sandstone blocks formed the east wall of the drain channel. At this point the drain channel was also capped with flat slabs of sandstone, two of which were encountered in situ, and one of which had been cracked. Sample excavation of the deposit contained within the drain channel where no capping survived, revealed a clean, brown silt. Following recording, the drain was covered with geotextile membrane and preserved in situ.

The watching brief also recorded a Roman well (CHER 8691) just to the east. This, together with remains of potential Roman structures recorded close by through previous investigations (CHER 8589, 8677, 8678), may be related.