Source/Archive record SCH8888 - Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research Project (CAER): Interim Archaeological Excavation Report for 2017

The Cheshire West and Chester Historic Environment Team in collaboration with the University of Chester’s History and Archaeology Department undertook an eleventh season of research excavation in Grosvenor Park between 4th and 31st May 2017. This comprised the excavation of two targeted trenches (Trenches IV and VIII). The work falls within the parameters of The Chester Amphitheatre Environs Research (CAER) Project, which is a multi phase project currently spanning 11 years fieldwork. The results of the 2017 excavations support the previous seasons findings that there was activity within Grosvenor Park since at least the Roman period, with hints that pre-Roman activity are also present. Trench IV revealed a further section of the metalled surface interpreted as a minor Roman road first identified in 2007. To the north of the road surface evidence for earlier occupation in the form of a large refuse pit was identified and dated to the early/midsecond century. At the western end of Trench IV a complex of medieval oven bases were identified which appear to be of 13th/14th century date. The ovens presented indications of in situ firing but little evidence for a specific industrial product; it is therefore likely that they were used for activities such as baking or possibly brewing. The first season of excavation in Trench VIII essentially identified further activity associated with the post-medieval phases previously encountered in Trench IV. A spread of demolition material that produced a range of 16th and 17th century pottery as well as a coin of Elizabeth I dated 1575-79. Both the demolition material and the overlying cultivation soil produced a significant quantity of lead shot and associated firearms equipment e.g. powder holder caps. These objects are thought to indicate that the demolition layer is associated with the raising of Cholmondeley’s Mansion by Parliamentarian forces during the Civil War siege of Chester in 1645. At the eastern end of Trench VIII beneath the demolition material there was a brick and sandstone structure that appeared to form a long rectangular base which had subsided at its eastern end. The brick structure is enigmatic but given its possible association with the Parliamentarian siege lines during the Civil War it may have formed the base for an artillery piece such as a small bombard/mortar. At the western end of Trench VIII a series of structural remains in the form of a robbed out wall and an area of hard-standing formed from re-used medieval floor tiles are likely to be associated with part of the Cholmondeley’s Mansion building complex.