Heronbridge

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[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 (now Eaton Road). The elongated oval site is visible in the satellite photograph above to the east of the road. To the west of the road can bee seen signs of a ancient trackway splitting off from the line of the road and tending south west. Some ridges and furrows are also seen in the western field and these date from Mediaeval times.

Founded in the late first century, the site was continuously occupied until at least AD 350. The earliest buildings (around A.D. 90) appear to have been wooden, rectangular and were laid out at right angles to the road. Finds of bronze-slag and clay crucibles and moulds indicate that the site at that time was home to a bronze foundry manufacturing fittings for small chests and possible some jewellery. In around 100-150 the original buildings were replaced with more substantial stone structures some of which were open-sided towards Watling street and which were probably shops. The presence of fragments of Roman window-glass indicates that these buildings may have been glazed. From later fragments of pottery recovered at the site it seems to have continued in use until well into the third century.

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 the large industrial complex containing what were believed to be several furnaces, dating from c100-150AD. 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.

The most modern piece of "archaeology" on the site is the large circular pit near the northern end of the eastern field and quite close to the road. This is actually believed to be a WW2 German bomb crater.

Links:

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