Monument record 8270/1 - Roman Barrack Block (latera praetorii west), further evidence

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2022, Chester Northgate Redevelopment: Phase 1 Post-Excavation Assessment Report, R4690 (Client Report). SCH9431.

Further evidence for the northern-most barrack block (block 6; OAN Building 800; CHER 8270) in Insula XXII was recorded in 2020-1 during groundworks undertaken during the Northgate redevelopment on the south side of Hunter Street, including a surface-water drainage trench which traversed the western extent of the contubernia of the barrack block as well as the probable centurion’s accommodation (CHER 8299/1), further west, at the end of the block.

Potential evidence for the late first century AD timber-built fortress could be represented by a north/south aligned, earth-filled linear feature, 0.9m wide and 0.35m deep, which may represent a trench for the timber partition wall between two contubernia; it also pre-dated a later stone wall, which itself underlay a further stone wall which had been built directly on top of it. Spatially, two other recorded stone wall fragments, one potentially part of the north wall of the barrack and the second part of the footing of the veranda, could relate to the early second century reconstruction of the fortress in stone attested elsewhere in the fortress (Mason 2012, source 2). Also, significantly, sequences of deposits pre-dating the stratigraphically early stone walls/footing were recorded, suggesting that, other remains of the late first century phase of this barrack were also present in these areas.

<2> Mason, D. J. P., 2012, Roman Chester – Fortress at the Edge of the World (Book). SCH7101.