Monument record 9024 - Saxon Stone Robbing and Possible Cultivation Layer (Dark Earth Layer), Goss Street North

During small-scale excavations at the north end of Goss St. in 1973, immediately overlying the demolition rubble of the parts of a Roman building at this location, was a brown sandy soil horizon containing small fragments of sandstone rubble and Roman building debris, but no large or re-usable material (4). Clearly post-dating Roman activities, it appears to have been derived from a secondary ‘working over’ of the demolition rubble by the Saxon inhabitants, for the purpose of removing potential building materials; all of the Roman walls at this location had been robbed (4). The excavators state that the layer may also have been created by cultivation, as it was largely homogeneous, well mixed and contained only small fragments of materials but the excavators stressed that the soil was less dark or ‘organic looking’ than one would expect from a cultivation horizon (4).

<1> multiple authors, 1974, Excavation Reports and Summaries Sites Observed, 2/15-16 McPeake J 1974 (Article in Journal). SCH5790.

<2> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, 1/287 Thacker A 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

<3> Ward, S. W., 1994, Saxon Occupation within the Roman Fortress: Sites Excavated, 1971-81 (Archaeological Service Excavation & Survey Reports) (Monograph). SCH5486.

<4> Richmond, I A and G Webster, 1951, Excavations at Goss Street, Chester, 1948-49 (Article in Journal). SCH5663.

<5> Grosvenor Museum Excavations Newsletter, 1973, Summary of Excavations in Chester (Newsletter). SCH6228.