Moxy Hotel, Chester, Cheshire - Post-excavation Assessment

Wessex Archaeology

This report records the results of an excavation and watching brief. Romano-British boundary ditches and gullies were found beneath layers of buried soil containing artefacts of Romano-British, medieval, 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century date. It is probable that these buried soils were analogous to those identified on the adjacent Boughton Centre site, where they were dated to the Romano-British period.

Ditches and sandstone walls contemporary with post-medieval gardens were aligned north to south on the same axis as the earlier Romano-British features, although (with one exception) the post-medieval boundaries did not have direct Romano-British antecedents. These boundaries divided the site into strips of approximately 13 m wide (2.5 perches) leading back from the Boughton road frontage to the south.

Environmental samples contained cereal grains, suggesting arable cultivation.

In the late-19th century, cartographic evidence indicates that the site was developed as a series of terraces of dwellings. The terraces were built in a single phase with identical building techniques and materials (handmade red brick and lime mortar). Victoria Terrace comprised slightly higher-status dwellings with bay windows and greater length. The other terraces were of uniform design. Outhouses were arranged in pairs in small yards at the rear of the dwellings. Preservation was typically limited to a few courses of brick foundation, however in some locales the ground floor surface survived.

Archaeological preservation was variable and had been impacted by the development of the 19th century terraces and primarily by the construction of a school in the 1970s. The pottery assemblage is of local and regional significance and requires further work to realize its potential.