A watching brief at Colchester Institute car park

This report describes observations made during the installation of drains at a new car park adjoining Colchester Institute. The site, formerly a piggery, lies on the lower eastern slope of hilly fields within the boundary of the Sheepen scheduled ancient monument. The results are based on field records made between the 8th and 16th June 1999. Due to the circumstances in which the watching brief was carried out, the stratigraphy in the machinecut main trench (Trench 3) was subject only to superficial manual examination and a minimal level of finds recovery. Since no systematic investigation took place, detailed interpretation is impossible. It is, however, clear that early features were exposed. From the available dating evidence this is late Iron Age early Roman activity contemporary with the occupation elsewhere within the monument at Sheepen.