Monument record MDR14916 - Roman ditches and medieval backplots (site of), Durrant Road, Chesterfield

Excavation of six evaluation trenches was carried out in 2002 in advance of the construction of a new Magistrates' Court at Chesterfield. Of these trenches, archaeology was present in two. The earliest deposits on the site were two Roman ditches, one of which was fairly large and aligned east/west. This feature was thought to be a boundary ditch and ran along the side of the valley. The second Roman feature was aligned north/south. It was present only at the extreme southern edge of the site, being cut by later features to the north. It did not appear to continue as far to the north as the boundary ditch. Also present were a series of medieval features, containing pottery dated to the 13th-14th centuries. The features appeared to be associated with the use of backplots from the buildings associated with Holywell Street, which ran to the south of the site. They include a series of large pits, probably cess pits, one of which contained a stone structure, and a further structure, probably a malt kiln, which had been reused as a cesspit in the early post-medieval period. To the west, where heaving burning had taken place, a series of features possibly associated with industrial activity were present. Unfortunately, levelling and terracing of the site meant that the upper part of these features was truncated and it was not easy to determine their form. Little residue had survived, although large pieces of slag were recovered from the fill of one of these features. See report for more details. (1)