An archaeological watching brief on land off Nunns Road, Colchester: September 1999

This site located between Nunns Road and the car park to the rear of the Marquis of Granby public house has been reduced to a new level which is now 2.65m below the present height of Nunns Road. The southern section along Nunns Road shows that archaeological deposits of Roman origin survive beneath the road at a depth of 2.05m, though later activity has probably destroyed much of this. The archaeology at the reduced level on the site itself appears to survive as “islands” which are the result of subsequent activity cutting into the Roman contexts. A considerable amount of Roman building demolition was seen at a depth of approximately 2.60m; this included tile, mortar, septaria and tesserae. A small area of a possible crude prepared surface was also recorded. Beneath the eastern site section (outside the proposed development area), two small patches of in situ Roman tesselated floor surface were uncovered by ‘amateur’ archaeologists. This survives at 2.65m below. Observation of this site therefore shows the potential for archaeological stratigraphy to survive beneath the proposed development.