Monument record 15955 - Post medieval boundary ditches to the rear of the Unionist Building

<1> Salford Archaeology (part of Centre for Applied Archaeology), 2023, Unionist Building, Nicholas Street, Chester: Archaeological Evaluation Report, R4754 (Client Report). SCH9588.

Two ditches, likely property boundary ditches, orientated east-west, were recorded during archaeological investigation in 2023 to the rear of the Unionist Building. The ditches [010]/[012] cut a demolition deposit of Roman date (see CHER 15954). The orientation of the ditches shares the same line of the cottages forming St Martin’s Court, which were built between 1853 and 1870. The fill of one of the ditches contained 19th-century pottery sherds suggesting it was backfilled in the mid-19th century.

The ditches were truncated by a pit [014], also of 19th century date, which was filled by a 0.8m-thick deposit of re-deposited garden soil [007] containing sherds of 16th-17th century pottery including individual fragments of Yellow ware, Tin glazed earthenware, Trailed slipware, a rim from a Cistercian vessel and Midlands purpletype ware jar. There were also fragments of orange to red bodied dark purple) glazed earthenware, including a full profile of a rounded bowl with slip trailed zig-zag decoration. However, the assemblage was dominated by brown glazed wares (34 fragments), including part of a rounded jug and other fragments with external sorting indicating use as a cook pot. The presence of two near complete vessels suggest that the pit was used for primary deposition. The lack of typical 18th century types such as Mottled ware suggests deposition in the 17th