Source/Archive record SCH8969 - Northgate Redevelopment, Phase 1, Hunter Street, Chester: Archaeological Evaluation Report

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken in 2019 at Hunter Street which lies within the area of the Chester Northgate Redevelopment, Phase 1. Four small test-pits (TP 01-04) were excavated in the northern carriageway of Hunter Street, to assess the amount of archaeological disturbance caused by modern service runs beneath the road, to identify the precise positions of these services, and to determine the level, below the modern surface, of any significant archaeology that might have survived. The resulting data were to be used to establish the potential impact, on significant archaeological remains, of new service runs that were planned in respect of the Northgate scheme, and to assist in the positioning of these services to cause the minimum archaeological disturbance. Services were found to have extensively truncated the archaeological remains, although significant archaeology was encountered in three of the four testpits, Test-pits 01, 02 and 03. A probable Roman soil horizon was identified at 0.96m below ground level in Test-pits 02 and 03, with an apparently Roman wall, aligned east-west in Test-pit 01, 0.3m below ground level. No archaeological deposits were identified in Test-pit 04, although a buried soil horizon containing post-medieval ceramics suggests that Roman remains may survive below the excavated depth of the test-pit, 1.15m below ground level.