Heronbridge

From Chester Wiki

[edit] ...And her Æðelfrið lædde his færde to Legercyestre, & ðar ofslóh unrím Walena

(..and here Aethelfrith led his fyrd to the Castle of the Legion and there slew uncountable Welsh)

The Roman and later site at Heronbridge stands on the west bank of the River Dee two kilometres south of Chester city centre, between the river and the line of Watling Street. The elongated oval site is visible in the satellite photograph above. Founded in the late first century, the site was continuously occupied until at least AD 350.

The pattern of two major civil settlements close to a legionary fortress (the other being the one immediately outside the defences at Chester) is one that is repeated in many other locations. The reasons for this are the subject of much speculation, and have included the locations being distinct on class or other social basis, as the further site being that of "smelly" industries, or it simply being somewhere where the legionary troops could be "entertained" away from the eyes of their camp. In other words, it could have been the 'social housing estate', the lead-works or the brothel.

The earliest systematic excavations were conducted in 1930-31 and revealed a large industrial complex containing what were believed to be several furnaces, dating from c100-160AD. Among the finds was a red sandstone altar now in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. Further detail on the 1930's dig can be found on roman-britain.org.

Far more information has come to light due to the efforts of the Chester Archaeological Society. The history of the site is very complex, with Roman remains overlaid with remnants of burials from the Battle of Chester (see Dark Age Chester), later Civil War fortifications and various other uses of the site following this.

Links:

• Heronbridge recreated
• image gallery
• Channel4 Dig database