Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 816: summary

Archaeological attendance and recording (watching brief) at St Helena School, Sheepen Road, Colchester, Essex: February 2015
by Ben Holloway (with contributions from -)

Date report completed: October 2015
Location: St Helena School, Sheepen Road, Colchester, Essex
Map reference(s): TL 8836 5850 (c)
File size: 89 kb
Project type: Watching brief
Significance of the results: negative
Keywords: modern

Summary. Observations were made during excavations of seven geotechnical boreholes as part of a survey ahead of locating new sports facilities, with a view to mitigating any impact on archaeological deposits. Excavation was carried out through a modern topsoil and into and accumulation horizon on to natural deposits of hillwash or coluvilum into deposits of glacial gravels. to a final depth of between 5m and 6m. No archaeological features or distinct archaeological horizons were identified during the excavation of the boreholes. Recovered finds were residual and came from post-Roman deposits (the topsoil L1 and the accumulation horizon L2). The recovered material was a mixture of modern and Roman material including fragments of coal, peg-tile and concrete as well as Roman tile and building stone. The lack of evidence is probably due to the location of the site away from the main industrial focus to the south and the proximity of the Roman temple (Colchester II) to the west. It is likely that the recovered Roman building materials are associated with the temple and were scattered in the post-Roman horizons once the temple had gone out of use in the 3rd century.