Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1333: summary

Archaeological monitoring at the Mercury Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1PT: December 2017-January 2018
by Laura Pooley (with contributions from Mark Baister, Laura Pooley)

Date report completed: October 2018
Location: Mercury Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1PT
Map reference(s): TL 99281 25157
File size: kb
Project type: Monitoring
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. Archaeological monitoring was carried out at the Mercury Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester, Essex during the excavation of six window sample boreholes and two boreholes as part of preliminary work for the Mercury Rising project. The theatre is known to be located on the site of one or more Roman town-houses with surviving wall foundations, tessellated and mosaic floors.

Monitoring of four of the window sample boreholes and the two boreholes revealed modern horizons to a depth of 0.6-1.25m below current ground level (bcgl). Beneath these horizons were Roman contexts ranging from 1.15m to 2.05m thick. Natural was recorded at depths of between 2.1-3.15m bcgl.

Two of the window sample boreholes were excavated through the backfill of an early 19th-century reservoir. The backfill sealed natural which was recorded at depths of c 2.7-2.8m bcgl.