Watching brief report: St Helena School, Sheepen Road, Colchester, Essex: electricity mains supply cable trench

Scheduled Monument Consent was given for a trench to be dug along part of the southern boundary of the school. This was for the purpose of installing a new electricity mains supply cable. Roman pottery, Roman tile, peg-tile and occasional animal bone came from topsoil and the interface with the subsoil. Contractors retrieved a 3rd-century Roman coin from the western end of the trench. No features were observed. The presence of a small amount of Roman material is to be expected and indicates Roman activity on the site. It is suspected that the trench was not deep enough to expose Roman or Iron Age features as it was dug through a grassy verge which was slightly higher than the school car-park. The only features of note were reinforced concrete foundations, said by the caretaker to be the remains of air-raid shelters which once stood to the east and west of the main school entrance.