Monument record 13004 - Excavated Masonry Structure, Grosvenor Park

<1> Chester Archaeology, 2013, Grosvenor Park Student Training Excavation 2013, p. 2-3 (Unpublished Report). SCH7137.

A series of excavations, over several seasons, 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. The chapel of St Anne passed into the possession of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley and became his town house. However, it is not clear how much the building was altered by the Cholmondeley family during the latter part of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries. (see source 2)

In the 2012 season of excavation, the remains of a substantial masonry structure was recorded in Trench IV. The structure had attached buttresses and was badly robbed, apparently after the destruction of the later mansion (Chomondeley's Mansion) in the 17th century. Further parts of the structure were visible in later negative structures. This building could represent the north-east corner of the medieval chapel of St Anne (CHER 11033/4) which was thought to be located further to the west.

<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, Paragraph 2.3 (Client Report). SCH8888.

Work during the 2013 season revealed part of a major north–south ditch (CHER 13003) into which several smaller gullies appear to have drained. It is possible that this ditch formed part of the original boundary of the ecclesiastical precinct of the College of St John (CHER 11033). The masonry building appears to have been constructed projecting into this ditch. Further examination of the ditch in 2015 demonstrated that it had been recut at least once on a slightly different alignment before the medieval masonry building was constructed partly encroaching into it. A drain cut through the medieval wall discharged into the ditch.