Chester Memories: Roman well and pig among treasures at Chester archaeological site

By Chester Chronicle on Jul 28, 09 12:16 PM in Before 1500

A ROMAN well has been unearthed on a Chester development site that will soon house a new Travelodge hotel.

An archaeological excavation on the junction of Upper Northgate Street and Delamere Street has already exposed a rock-cut Roman well and several large quarries - with at least one dating back to Roman times.

The quarries, once redundant, became a convenient place to dump rubbish, providing invaluable information about the lives of our forebears.

Many fragments of Roman and later pottery have also been recovered and a whole pig appears to have been thrown into one of the post medieval quarries.

Cheshire West and Chester archaeologists arranged for students from the University of Chester, who worked with them at Grosvenor Park in May, to visit the dig being carried out by Earthworks Archaeology. Leigh Dodd, site director for Earthworks Archaeology, said: "The excavation means that the remains will be properly recorded before construction work starts. Once the excavation has been completed, the material from the site will be analysed and dated and a full report will be produced.

The archaeological investigation can be viewed from the main footpath.

The picture shows site director Leigh Dodd shows the Roman well to students Ruth Nugent, Karen Gavin and Emily Humphries.

Comments (0)