[4] The amphitheatre is the largest so far uncovered in Britain, and dates from the 1st century, when the Roman fort of Deva Victrix was founded.

It is a peculiarly English myth that the amphitheatre would have been primarily for military training and drill; all the evidence recovered from excavation shows that it was used for cock fighting, bull baiting and combat sports, including classical boxing, wrestling and, probably most importantly, gladiatorial combat.

[4] Although the existence of an amphitheatre in Chester had been speculated for years, the first evidence for it was discovered in 1929 when gardening works at Dee House revealed a long curved wall.

However, the site of the amphitheatre was covered by buildings and lay in the way of a new planned road, designed to bypass the narrow curved lane that skirted the perimeter.

A small area was dug up, and the rest redeveloped as a short-lived park, which was quickly removed to allow further excavation.

[11] Between 2004-2006 the survey, co-directed by Dan Garner of the council and Tony Wilmott of English Heritage, addressed three areas of the site: The work was the subject of an episode of the BBC Four series Timewatch.

[11] Excavation finds included a coin from the time of Vespasian, a Gladius hilt and Samian ware with hunting and battle scenes.

[12] Following further discoveries at the site in 2010, some writers suggested that the amphitheatre was the prototype for King Arthur's Round Table,[13] but English Heritage, acting as consultants to a History Channel documentary in which the claim was made, declared that there was no archaeological basis to the story.

[14] A trompe-l'œil mural was commissioned in August 2010 by Chester Renaissance to enable visitors to experience the illusion of a complete amphitheatre as well as showing how the original structure may have looked.

The painted ellipsis of the sand covered ground and depiction of the central tethering stone allow a viewer to experience a full immersion in the amphitheatre that was not possible with the previous, blank wall.

Taking over 6 weeks to complete with two, six metre scaffolding towers and five painters, the public and tourist groups could watch the progression of the mural and interact with the artist and his assistants, the British weather dictating working hours.