An archaeological watching brief and evaluation at East Mill, East Street, Colchester, Essex: May 2003 and March-April 2005

A watching brief was carried out during groundworks on land to the rear of the former Mill Hotel in 2003 and a trial-trenching evaluation was carried out prior to residential development in the same area in 2005. The evaluation indicated that the millrace of East Mill was formerly through the western part of the development site, to the east of its current course. The evidence for this was river-borne silts and a timber revetment observed in one of the trenches, and a grille across the now back-filled millrace encountered in another. Three waterlogged timbers recorded in a pit dug for a manhole during the watching brief may represent part of a previous mill building. The evaluation confirmed the existence of a substantial depth of modern dumped material in the western and northern parts of the development site. Natural ground was not reached in all areas.