SNN112981 - Archaeological Trial trenching within the former Kitchen Garden and supposed Deserted Medieval Hamlet at Chester Farm, Irchester, Northamptonshire, August 2013

Northamptonshire Archaeology (now MOLA Northampton) excavated eight trenches across the lower garden of the former Chester House and the suggested site of the hamlet of Chester on the Water. The trenches were to test the survival of archaeological levels in the lower garden, where it was claimed that the Victorian lawn tennis court would have destroyed the earlier levels, and examine an area purported to contain the deserted hamlet. Neither area had been tested by means of geophysical survey owing to the presence of cinder metalled garden paths and agricultural dumping rendering such techniques unsuitable. The results of the trenching included various paths associated with the Victorian and later garden, elements of Roman structures and surfaces as well as evidence of the nineteenth century terracing of the garden.