Monument record 13003 - Medieval Boundary Ditch and Wall, Grosvenor Park

<1> L-P Archaeology, 2019, Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project (CAER): Interim Archaeological Excavation Report for 2017, Paragraph 2.3 (Client Report). SCH8888.

A series of excavations have been carried out in Grosvenor Park, in partnership with Chester University, as part of the Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research/CAER Project. The project began in 2007 and one of its principle objectives was to locate the remains of Cholmondeley’s Mansion. It is thought that the house occupied the site of earlier medieval buildings attached to the collegiate church of St John (CHER 11033), including a chapel dedicated to St Anne (CHER 11033/4), and a range of petty canons houses (CHER 11033/11/3). Following the Dissolution, the buildings of St John’s College mostly became private residences, and this part of Chester became the preserve of the gentry. (see source 2)

In the 2013-15 excavation seasons, the remains of a major north-south ditch was excavated (Trench IV) and it is thought that it may have formed the original boundary of the ecclesiastical precinct of The College of St John. It had been re-cut at least once and several smaller gullies appear to have drained into it; on its east face, the ditch was faced with high quality masonry. The ditch was partly overlain by a buttressed medieval building (CHER 13004) which may have formed part of the Chapel of St Anne; a drain cut through the medieval wall of this building discharged into the ditch.

<2> Chester Archaeology, Archaeology in the Park: Grosvenor Park, Chester 2007 (Newsletter). SCH6469.

<3> L-P Archaeology, 2019, Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project (CAER): Interim Archaeological Excavation Report for 2017, R4442 (Client Report). SCH8888.

In 2016-2018, further excavation in Trench IV recorded a further section of the north-south aligned, medieval ditch. The ditch was later re-cut by a substantially wider and deeper ditch which was on a slightly different alignment but essentially followed the line of the earlier boundary. The later ditch was at least 13m long, up to 2.7m wide and 0.92m deep. After the cutting of the later ditch, a sandstone retaining wall was constructed on the western side of the ditch from well-faced sandstone blocks, this is thought to represent a later modification to the eastern boundary of St John’s precinct. It survived to a height of 1m and comprised 6 courses of blocks. The wall was set within a north-south aligned construction trench 1.35m wide and 0.7m deep which had been cut in to a compact sandstone brash layer. This construction trench had been backfilled with a dark reddish brown sandy clay containing large sandstone fragments. The wall produced pottery of fourteenth-fifteenth century date, as did the associated sandstone brash surface. (see also source 4)

<4> L-P Archaeology, 2019, Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project (CAER): Interim Archaeological Excavation Report for 2018, R4443 (Client Report). SCH8896.

<5> L-P Archaeology, 2024, Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project (CAER): Interim Archaeological Excavation Report for 2019 (Training), R4806 (Client Report). SCH9679.

A further season of excavation in 2019 recorded more evidence of the north-south late medieval ditch at the eastern end of Trench VIII, to the south of Trench IV. The eastern side of the ditch was observed associated with the top of an inner stone revetment. A robber trench on the same alignment was also identified.