Beneath a courthouse in northwest England, archaeologists made an unexpected find in a shadowy passageway: using nothing more than a smartphone flashlight, they spotted an 800-year-old section of castle wall hidden inside later construction below Chester Crown Court.
What happened?
According to a report from The Independent, the discovery was made during a survey of the historic complex.
While examining a dark area beneath the court, archaeologists saw the stonework change abruptly, pointing to a surviving piece of Chester Castle’s medieval defenses.
University of Chester archaeologist Stewart Ainsworth said the telltale sign appeared at the far end of a dark corridor.
“By the light of my phone I could immediately tell that a large section of wall in the gloom ahead was totally different,” Ainsworth said to The Independent.
The team matched the stones and building style against surviving parts of the Norman castle and determined the wall was likely from the medieval period. Further analysis using digital scans and historic maps suggested the structure was linked to an 800-year-old bridge crossing a deep ditch that protected Chester Castle’s inner ward, The Independent reported.
This kind of proactive survey work is becoming an increasingly important way to protect older buildings and the layers of history they contain.
“I think it is amazing that by doing proactive surveys and recording of historic buildings, we are able to discover unknown archaeology,” Jonathan Lightfoot, Cheshire Constabulary’s Police Constable, told The Independent.
Rather than waiting for construction or deterioration to expose buried features, researchers can investigate sites in advance and create records that help guide future preservation efforts.
It also suggests that more medieval stonework may still survive underground. The Independent reported that despite centuries of construction, a large section of Chester Castle’s defenses survived.
“The wall I discovered is massive – almost three metres high – so we now know that he left a lot of the medieval stonework untouched,” Ainsworth told the outlet.
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