Excavation Archives

We hold the archives - written and drawn records, photographs, artefacts and environmental samples - from excavations carried out since 1963, mostly in the centre of Chester, but also in the rural areas of Chester District. Our collections of finds include:

Roman

 

 

• Building materials - tile and brick (many fragments with stamps of Legion XX VV); painted wall plaster; carved sandstone architectural fragments 
• Pottery of the late first to fourth centuries, especially from the legionary kilns at Holt 
• Glass, especially late first- and second-century 
• Coins of the late first to later fourth centuries 
• Copper alloy, iron and some lead objects 
• Some cremation burials 
• Animal bone

Saxon   

• Pottery, especially tenth-century 'Chester ware' 
• Coins, copper alloy and iron objects in small numbers 
• Organic artefacts, mainly bone 
• Animal bone

Medieval

 

• Building materials - glazed floor and roof tiles; roof slates; carved sandstone architectural fragments 
• Pottery, especially locally produced red/grey and pink/white wares, as well as imported wares from elsewhere in the British Isles and from the Continent 
• Window glass (some painted) 
• Coins, copper alloy, iron and lead objects - in small numbers 
• Organic artefacts - leather shoes and wood - in small numbers 
• Human remains, articulated and disarticulated 
• Animal remains and ecofacts

Post-medieval

• Pottery 
• Clay tobacco pipes 
• Vessel and window glass 
• Coins and metal objects - in small numbers 
• Human remains 
• Animal bone

We also hold multi-period reference collections of pottery, ceramic building materials and animal bone, as well as a reference collection of archaeological and modern plant material. For consultation of our reference collections in connection with commercially funded projects we charge a basic access fee of £20 per half day plus an optional consultancy fee of £15 per hour.

The size and quality of these collections, together with the historical importance of Chester itself, make them of regional significance. We welcome research on them by students, particularly at post-graduate level. Unfortunately our records are not yet computerised and we cannot therefore print out customised listings of objects on request, but students are welcome to make personal visits to consult original records and look at the collections. For more details on particular categories of material, please contact the appropriate member of staff.

Photographs and drawings may be reproduced subject to acknowledgement of copyright and payment of the appropriate fee. For information about the archives of excavations before 1963,  contact Email: archaeology@chester.gov.uk  Tel (01244) 402028