Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 187: summary

An archaeological evaluation on land adjacent to 2 Alexandra Road, Colchester, Essex: April 2002
by Brooks, H (with contributions from Crummy, N)

Date report completed: 15/05/2002
Location: Colchester, Essex
Map reference(s): TL98262438, TL99262475
File size: 799 kb
Project type: Evaluation
Significance of the results:
Keywords: post-medieval, human bone, Roman building, ceramic building materials, small finds

Summary. This 0.05 hectare site is on the fringes of one of Roman Colchester's main cemeteries. The site was evaluated by three trial-trenches. These showed that the southern two-thirds of the site had been truncated by recent pits. On the northern edge of the site, a Roman soil layer survived. This contained pits and other Roman features, but no burials. Spot-dating of the finds would suggest Roman activity of the 2nd to 3rd centuries. There were loose human bones from one of the recent pits in T2. Presumably there were Roman burials on the site, but they have been disturbed or destroyed by pit-digging in recent centuries. There was a large quantity of Roman building debris from the site - brick, roof tile and tesserae. The source of this debris must have been a Roman structure near to or perhaps on the site.