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1 July 2022
Year 6 pupils from The Queen’s Lower School joined pupils from Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School and Queen’s Park High School for a special ceremony to bury a time capsule in the new Exchange Square in the heart of the Northgate development.
The capsules contain a wide selection of artefacts to provide future generations with an insight into life in Chester in 2022.
The Queen’s capsule included information about our school day and uniform, a photograph of the year group, some Queen’s goodies and a Platinum Jubilee commemorative coin.
A group of Queen’s girls visited the site in 2021 and learnt about the scope and scale of the Northgate development, the Roman history of the site plus archaeology and construction techniques and careers.
Deputy Head of The Queen’s Lower School, Katy Yousaf said: ‘With our rich heritage and connection to the city it was an honour to be asked for the girls to be part of this special moment in history. It is amazing to think that these time capsules will one day be re-discovered and provide future generations with information about Queen’s in 2022!’
The time capsules were sponsored by VINCI Building as part of their Northgate community engagement activities and the chamber will be marked with a commemorative stone plaque.
Councillor Richard Beacham, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economy and Regeneration, said: “When the time comes to rebuild a future Northgate, I hope these time capsules will provide a wonderful snapshot of life in Chester for future archaeologists to discover and study, and be as fascinated as we have been by the archaeology we have found whilst constructing Northgate.
“This programme for local young people is part of the Council’s ongoing commitment to squeezing more value from the money we spend on projects like Northgate; over the duration of the build this has included a creating new jobs, offering apprenticeships, and building partnerships with local education providers to inspire the next generation of construction workers, designers, architects, archaeologists and engineers.”
Jonathan Roberts, Senior Project Manager from VINCI Building said: “We are delighted to help facilitate these time capsules and encourage students to learn more about the wide range of career opportunities within the construction industry and how we are building Northgate”.
A great deal of care and thought has gone into protecting the archaeology on the Northgate site, which was once one of the largest Roman fortresses in Britain.
Despite finding over 10,000 Roman artefacts, the works have disturbed less than three percent of the archaeology and the foundations have been carefully designed to let the building ‘float’ above the ground.
For more information on Chester Northgate see: www.chesternorthgate.com
