Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 288: summary

An archaeological evaluation by trial-trenching at Area J1 of the Garrison Urban Village, Colchester, Essex: September 2004
by Holloway, B (with contributions from Benfield, S; Brooks, H; Crummy, N)

Date report completed: 07/10/2004
Location: Garrison, Colchester, Essex
Map reference(s): TL99252445, TL9942432, TL99602395
File size: 532 kb
Project type: Evaluation
Significance of the results: * *
Keywords: Bronze Age, Iron Age, metalled surface, human bone, Roman burial, Roman inhumation, cremation, small finds, prehistoric pottery, Roman pottery, trackway/droveway, World War 1/World War 2 defences

Summary. This is the archive report on an archaeological evaluation of Area J1 of the planned urban village at Colchester Garrison, Colchester, Essex. The work was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust under the management of RPS as part of a programme of archaeological evaluation of areas of alienated land acquired by Taylor Woodrow for residential development. Seventeen trenches were excavated, totalling 581m of trenching. Sixty-one features were recorded. Apart from modern disturbance and post-medieval ditches, the features dated to the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age, the Late Iron Age, and (mainly) the Roman period. Roman activity was concentrated in trenches TJ10, TJ11, TJ17, TJ19, TJ20, TJ23 and TJ24; this included demolition material and robbed-out wall lines on a similar alignment to those observed in Area C2, a metalled road sharing the alignment of that observed in Area C1, and a number of inhumation and cremation burials. A number of boundary ditches and trackway ditches were also recorded.