Originally published in Archaeologia Aeliana 5th series, 21 (1993), 29-85
Plans to extend the Parish Centre building in Church Chare, Chester-le- Street, led to excavations being undertaken by the author for the Archaeological Practice at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, on behalf of the Bowes Museum (Fig.1). Funding was provided by English Heritage, with a contribution towards accommodation by the Parochial Church Council, Chester-le-Street. It was anticipated that the new structure would only damage the archaeological levels to a depth of 800mm below the present floor surface of the Parish Centre, and priority was given to the excavation of these areas.
Excavation, in the north-west corner of the Roman fort, was carried out between November 1990 and February 1991 and consisted of one open-area trench covering most of the plot of land upon which the extension was to be built (but extending beyond the limits of the structure), with one machine trench at the southern end, parallel to the north wall of the Parish Centre. The close proximity of the water table to the ground surface posed persistent problems during the course of the excavation.
The fort platform at Chester-le-Street is situated on a high bluff (around 70m O.D.) overlooking the valleys of the Wear to the east and Cong Burn to the north, the classic position for a Roman military base (Fig.1). The road from Brough-on-Humber (Petuaria) to Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius) passes immediately to the west of the fort, the Roman name of which is now believed to be Concangis (Rivet and Smith 1979, 314-5).
Previous excavations in Chester-le-Street have been summarized usefully by Rainbird (1971) and have succeeded in delineating the extent of the defences of the stone fort, as well as locating internal structures. Subsequent work in Middle Chare car park (Evans et al. 1991) not only provided the first open-area excavation of any part of the fort, but also outlined a phasing model for the archaeological material against which later work could be compared. The Middle Chare site located the rampart, wall, and ditches of the stone fort, as well as successive phases of a building that is probably to be identified as the praetorium.
Rainbird's various trenches around the fort included two placed on the site of the present investigation, his trenches 5 and IV (Rainbird 1971, Fig 3). Trench 5 was opened by machine and ran north to south, but it 'failed to find any structures'. Trench IV, on the other hand, placed close to the north wall of the old school building (the present Parish Centre) apparently 'picked up a T-junction of two stone walls, with pottery of the later second to third century below' (ibid. 105). On the plot of land now covered by the Salvation Army building, his trench VI revealed the west wall of the fort and the edge of the intervallum road.
A trial trench was placed across the Church Chare site as part of a site evaluation survey for the proposed extension (O'Brien 1990).