Monument record 11512 - Excavated Sandstone and Brick Structure, Grosvenor Park

<1> L-P Archaeology, 2019, Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project (CAER): Interim Archaeological Excavation Report for 2017, R4442 (Client Report). SCH8888.

A series of excavations have been carried out, over several seasons, on the west side of 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 (CHER 11045). 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). (See source 2)

In the 2017 and 2018 seasons of excavation, at the eastern end of Trench VIII, a brick and sandstone structure was recorded. It appeared to form a long rectangular base which had subsided at its eastern end. The structure was aligned east-west and lay beneath a demolition layer which contained pottery dating to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, also a coin of Elizabeth I dated 1575-79. Both the demolition material and the overlying cultivation soil produced a significant quantity of lead shot and associated firearms equipment e.g. powder holder caps. These objects are thought to indicate that the demolition layer is associated with the raising of Cholmondeley’s Mansion (see CHER 11511) by Parliamentarian forces during the Civil War siege of Chester in 1645. Given its possible association with the Parliamentarian siege lines during the Civil War, it is possible that the brick and sandstone structure formed the base for an artillery piece such as a small bombard/mortar. Directly above the brick structure four bone dice were recovered. These dice are remarkable because on each the face that normally displays five pips has been replaced with one carrying two and it is possible that these dice were made with dishonest intent. (see also source 3)

<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 2018, R4443 (Client Report). SCH8896.