10.5284/1070357
Mason, D J P
III: The Heronbridge archaeological research project: an interim report on the 2002 and 2003 seasons of the Society's new fieldwork initiative
Archaeology Data Service
2018
en
Article
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/series.xhtml?recordId=1000461
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Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society, 78, 49-106
Report describing the results of fieldwork undertaken by the Chester Archaeological Society during 2002 and 2003 at the multi-period site of Heronbridge. The investigations focused on the part of the site lying between the modern road (ancient Watling Street) and the River Dee, which contained the eastern half of the Roman roadside settlement overlain by a large curvilinear enclosure defended by a rampart and ditch. it was shown that the defensive works did not continue along the river bank, but that the rampart was originally reinforced by a stone revetment. The earthwork is now thought to have been constructed at some time between c. AD 890 and c. AD 980. Investigation of the ancient river cliff at the north end of the site revealed a natural inlet which had been modified to function as a quay serving the Roman settlement, a ramped trackway from the north providing access. These works were provisionally dated to the early- to mid-second century. Around the middle of the third century, three graves were excavated in the rock close to the edge of the quay which was by this time disused. Two were for adults and the third for a child. Although the graves had been ransacked in antiquity, fragments of sculpture recovered from the fill on one and from silt nearby indicate that the two adult graves were covered by a substantial funerary monument.