English Heritage and Chester City Council today (Tuesday 6 April) invited local people, visitors and tourists to accompany them on a journey back to the city’s Roman and early Christian past.
Launching the Chester Amphitheatre Project, a three-year exploration of the heart of the historic city, Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman of English Heritage, said: “Today marks the start of a very important period in Chester’s history and the involvement of the wider community will be crucial to its success.
“Our joint project, a combination of research and excavation, will reveal new evidence about the national and international significance of Chester’s Roman and early Christian remains. This knowledge will allow us to appreciate how 21st century Chester came about and how it might develop in the future. We expect the project to attract an additional 40,000 annual visitors to the city, creating and sustaining 150 new jobs and bringing £5 million a year in investment to the local economy."
“This is not just a big excavation. It will also be an exciting community event and we hope that schools, local residents and Chester’s many visitors will want to become involved."
“The project will result in a plan for the development and conservation of the amphitheatre and Chester’s other historical attractions. Buildings and sites spanning over 2000 years, all within easy walking distance of the amphitheatre, will be linked to create a new cultural and heritage quarter. A programme of events, educational activities, new signage and interpretative material will enhance the visitor experience and boost Chester’s position as an international tourist attraction.”
State-of-the-art technology will allow visitors to the amphitheatre to see history in the making. Laser scanners will create a 3D computer model of the amphitheatre, a helium filled balloon will carry out an aerial survey of the site, while on the ground, penetrating radar will pinpoint exactly what survives below the earth.
Preliminary work has already been carried out to review earlier archaeological studies of the site and to locate areas for future excavation. The new digs will be in full view of the public this summer (2004) and next (2005) thanks to specially built walkways that will enable people to watch the archaeologists at work.
At Chester Visitor Centre people will be able to see and talk to the archaeologists cleaning and sorting artefacts and other finds, and to keep-up-to-date with the progress of the dig through special exhibitions. A Chester Amphitheatre Project website will be set up at http//www.chesteramphitheatre.co.uk
In Autumn 2005, Chester will host an international conference highlighting what has been discovered about the amphitheatre and signalling what work remains to be done.
Councillor David Evans, Leader of Chester City Council, said: “Chester is extremely proud of its rich and fascinating history and this exciting project with English Heritage will help us understand more about the city’s past.
“The amphitheatre has major historical significance and we will use the research findings to help us decide how to conserve the site in the future. The research programme will also bring important economic and social benefits to the area by attracting more visitors and encouraging lifelong learning.
“Over the next two years people will be able to visit the site and watch as the amphitheatre’s secrets are uncovered, increasing their knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of Chester’s past.”
David Miles, English Heritage’s Chief Archaeologist, said: “This is a site of international importance. We are talking about a large military base here – 8,000 soldiers overpaid and overhere, plus everything you would expect around that kind of settlement, the markets, the pubs and clubs, fast food and fast women.
“The amphitheatre may also have developed as a post-Roman defensive citadel, a centre of power and a focal point of the early Church. The early Christian development around the site of the amphitheatre is central to our understanding of the way the city developed in medieval times and we hope that the project will contribute to our understanding of this period of Chester’s past.”
Chester was one of the earliest centres of English Christianity in northern Britain. A stone by stone examination of the excavated half of the amphitheatre may clear up the question of whether there was a post-Roman church on the site, possibly a precursor to the medieval St John’s Church which still stands today. There is also great interest in the relationship between the amphitheatre, which staged military spectacles and religious festivals, its immediate surroundings, and the use of the river.