Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1247: summary

Archaeological monitoring at 15a West Lodge Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3NL: March 2018
by Laura Pooley and Dr Elliott Hicks (with contributions from Stephen Benfield)

Date report completed: April 2018
Location: 15a West Lodge Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3NL
Map reference(s): TL 9854 2482 (c)
File size: 3,649 kb
Project type: Archaeological monitoring
Significance of the results: *
Keywords: late Roman or post-Roman, 'dark earth', Roman ‘Lexden cemetery’

Summary. Archaeological monitoring was carried out at 15a West Lodge Road, Colchester, Essex during groundworks for the construction of a sunroom extension to the rear of the existing property. The development site is located within the area of the Roman ‘Lexden cemetery’, with groundworks in 2004/5 having revealed six or seven cremation burials and two possible inhumation burials. Monitoring revealed a horizon of dark earth sealed by modern layers. This late Roman or post-Roman dark earth was first identified during archaeological investigations on the site in 2004/5. It was recorded across the development site sealing the Roman burials, which had survived at a depth of 0.95-1.2m below ground-level at that time. Evidence from the current monitoring would suggest that ground-level was raised during the construction of nos 15 and 15a in 2004/5 and, as current groundworks did go below the dark earth horizon, there was no impact on any further Roman burials which may survive on the site.