Source/Archive record SCH5443 - Alterations and Cellar Replacement at No 2 Blackfriars Court, Blackfriars, Chester: An Archaeological Watching Brief

The excavation and recording of trench 1 within the garden of No. 2 Blackfriars Court has demonstrated that within this location the ground level has been raised significantly, by up to c.1m, since the construction of the sandstone foundations and raising of the brickwork forming the west wall of the property. The presence of the compacted lime mortar layer, context (114), may represent a construction/trample layer deposited during construction of this brickwork and the building work in general. However, this mortar layer could also represent a former internal floor level/bedding layer for a floor surface to a demolished structure that once stood on the west side of the current building. If so, the extent of the trench was not sufficient to expose any associated walls or foundations. The finds evidence recovered from contexts (105) and (106) suggested that the dumping of material against the external face of the brickwork took place around the middle of the nineteenth century. The reason for the pronounced slope noted within the compacted mortar layer became apparent with the discovery of a cut feature beneath, represented by cut [120]; the mortar layer had settled into the soft fill of this feature. The former ground level prior to the construction of the property was evident in the form of a layer of crushed sandstone and gravel (116), probably the remains of a former path or floor surface. The layer of soil (115) sealing this surface, and subsequently cut by context [120], may represent a change in land use prior to construction of the existing property, perhaps to one of small-scale agriculture or formal gardening. The derivation of the thick soil layer context (123) – sealed below (117) - cannot be explained easily. This material may have accumulated on this slope heading towards the line of the City Wall, or through gardening activities and the importation of humic soil into the area. Whatever the reason for its depth, however, it clearly accumulated during the post-medieval period, and probably during the later years of the seventeenth century or early decades of the eighteenth. The soil layer effectively sealed potentially very significant, earlier archaeological deposits noted at the base of the excavated sondage. Here, the stony clay layer exposed, context (124), represented a stark archaeological interface in the site’s stratigraphy. However, as the required depth of excavation was achieved above the level of this context, there was no reason for deeper exploration. The level at which context (124) was noted within trench 1 (c.14.50m AOD) was paralleled exactly by the appearance of a similar layer, context (208), recorded within trench 2. Here the stony appearance of (208) perhaps suggested the presence of a former surface. The stony layer was potentially widespread, as demonstrated again by the presence of a similar context at the base of the previously excavated adjacent test pit (Pit 2). Furthermore, during ground reduction in the east cellar, the stony clay material was encountered at a slightly shallower depth, approximately c.14.68m AOD. Fragments of Roman period ceramic building materials recovered from the surface of this layer within trench 2 give an indication of the potential date and importance of this archaeological horizon. During the project there was no sign of the speculative medieval boundary wall that separates the two religious houses in this location (Earthworks 2010). Although the limited investigation makes interpretation difficult, it can be stated with confidence – using the combined results of the previous watching brief, test pits and the archaeological investigations reported on here - that significant archaeological deposits within the Blackfriars Court area can be expected at a level of c.14.50m AOD, rising to at least c.14.7m AOD as one moves east. This information may prove beneficial in the future management of the archaeology across this area of the city.