Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 644: summary

An archaeological watching brief at the Sixth Form College, North Hill, Colchester, Essex - July-September 2011
by Donald Shimmin (with contributions from N Crummy, S Benfield)

Date report completed: September 2012
Location: Sixth Form College, North Hill, Colchester, Essex
Map reference(s): TL 9926 2545
File size: 1,804 kb
Project type: watching brief
Significance of the results: *
Keywords: Roman, painted wall-plaster, foundation

Summary. Further Roman remains were uncovered during an archaeological watching brief in advance of the construction of a new Languages Centre at the Sixth Form College, North Hill, Colchester, Essex. The site lies in the north-western corner of the college grounds, close to the Roman town wall, and was the latest in a series of archaeological investigations at the college in recent years. Over most of the site, nothing of archaeological significance was disturbed during the groundworks, apart from the bones of a dog buried in relatively recent times. However, along the southern edge of the site, the machine-digging of the foundation trenches uncovered the uppermost surviving Roman deposits. These were excavated by CAT down to the level required by the contractors. The deposits consisted mainly of late Roman demolition debris, which included many fragments of Roman painted wall-plaster and brick/tile. A late 3rd-century coin and some Roman pottery were among the other finds recovered. The top of an unrobbed east-west Roman foundation was also uncovered in two places. These remains perhaps formed part of the same Roman building that was excavated nearby in 2005-6 (Building 212).