Welcome to the World Wide Web pages of the Chester Archaeological Society. For a summary of what the Society does, please read our 'History and Activities' page. If you have any questions about the website, please contact Alison Heke, c/o Chester Archaeology, 27 Grosvenor Street, Chester CH1 2DD. Tel +44 (0)1244 402023. Fax +44 (0)1244 347522. 

Chester City Walls Conservation Management Plan 
Society members are invited to comment on draft plans for the future management of the city’s historic walls, as part of a twelve-week public consultation exercise. 

The 100-page draft conservation and management plan has been prepared by Donald Insall Associates in conjunction with the city council and Chester Civic Trust and highlights the importance of the walls from the Roman Conquest through to the English Civil War. Among walled cities in Britain today, Chester has almost no rivals for the survival and completeness of its walls, which are also recognised as being of international importance. 

The draft plan was commissioned in the wake of concerns at the condition and management of the walls, which are seen not only as important for Britain’s heritage but also vital to Chester’s visitor economy. To bid for funding for improvement projects, the city council needs an up-to-date conservation and management plan, similar to those prepared for Chester castle and the amphitheatre. 

The draft plan will be posted on the city council’s website  from 23 January. Members can either reply on-line, using the feedback button, or by post to Chester City Council, The Forum, Chester, CH1 2HS.

Towards a model of Roman society in Cheshire: first to third centuries AD. This speculative essay by our member Dr Peter Carrington uses a variety of current models of Roman demography and frontier society to seek to understand the size, composition and function of the canabae of the Chester legionary fortress; the development of the surrounding area as a supporting hinterland; and its social and economic trajectory. Click here to read this essay. 

The Claverton Project  
Click here for the latest update on the Society's fieldwork and research project in an area to the west of Heronbridge, known as the 'lost village of Claverton'. 

The latest volume of the Journal is now available 
Volume 79 for 2004 includes articles on Neolithic stone axeheads from Cheshire, archaeological observations at Snow Hill Car Park at Nantwich in Cheshire and finds from Cheshire recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme 2004. For further information and details on how to place an order, please click here.