Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 649: summary

An archaeological watching brief at North Primary School, John Harper Street, Colchester, Essex: April/May 2012
by Ben Holloway & Howard Brooks (with contributions from -)

Date report completed: June 2012
Location: North County Primary School, John Harper Street, Colchester, Essex
Map reference(s): TL 9919 2584 (c).
File size: 187 kb
Project type: Archaeological watching brief
Significance of the results: */**
Keywords: Roman, ditch

Summary. There was a Roman suburb containing high-status buildings with tessellated and mosaic floors in the area now occupied by the HSBC Bank and the Victoria Inn on North Station Road, Colchester. The North Primary School is within that Roman suburb. An archaeological evaluation in November 2011 had identified a Roman deposit containing 2nd-century Roman pottery, tile, and oyster shell stratified beneath approximately 600mm of topsoil and made-ground. A watching brief during foundation work for a new classroom (the north class base) in 2012 identified a Roman ditch and a large modern pit. This report relates to observations made during monitoring of the foundation trenches for the north class base only. Future monitoring will be reported separately, or as a revised version of this report.