Source/Archive record SCH8865 - Archaeological Investigation Report: Wrexham Road, Chester

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken on land to the west of Wrexham Road, Chester. Fieldwork took place in two phases, a trial-trench evaluation taking place between 1st and 12th April 2019, and a strip, map and sample between 3rd June and 12th July 2019. The trial trench evaluation consisted of 24 trenches in the main site, on land off Wrexham Road, and eight trenches in an ecological mitigation area, to the south-east of Lache Lane. Twenty-five of the 32 evaluation trenches were devoid of archaeological features. However, in trenches 4 and 14, in the main site area, ditches were recorded, one contained a Roman Samian gaming counter, firmly dating it to the Roman period. Trenches 10 and 18 of the main site, also trench 4 in the ecological mitigation area, also contained undated archaeological features. The strip, map and sample exercise covered an area of 75m by 75m centred around Trenches 4 and 14 to further investigate the features recorded in these trenches. In addition to the ditches recorded in the trial trenches, two distinct alignments of small circular features were recorded within the stripped area; given the small size of each pit, they are throught to represent fence lines, rather than post-built structures. No dateable evidence was retrieved from either alignment. Numerous discrete pits were also recorded across the site, most of these were shallow and were likely truncated by later agricultural activity. Roman finds recovered comprise pottery fragments (including the Samian gaming counter) dating to the mid-1st to 3rd/4th centuries AD, ceramic building material fragments, and a potential knife blade. To the east of the site, an extensive Iron Age and Roman settlement was recorded prior to the construction of Chester Business Park, it is possible that the remains recorded in this evaluation represent agricultural activity associated with the settlement. An infilled palaeochannel in the south-east corner of the stripped area was respected by the terminus of the ditch that contained the Roman Samian gaming counter, suggesting that both features may have been active at the same time. The infill layers of the palaeochannel contained mixed artefacts from the Roman, medieval and post-medieval periods, suggesting that at some time during the post-medieval period, the paleochannel was purposefully backfilled. In addition to the Roman activity on site, the recovery of prehistoric lithics from the topsoil and naturally deposited contexts may suggest prehistoric activity in the area, though no specific foci was seen and the finds may be isolated. Also, the recovery of a small amount of medieval pottery, along with a glazed floor tile, may be significant, as a scheduled medieval moat is situated close by. No archaeological remains relating to a structure have been found, other than the results of the geophysical survey confirming the position of the moat, however, the presence of the glazed floor tile may be indicative of a high-status medieval building in the vicinity.