An archaeological trial-trenching evaluation at St Helena School, Sheepen Road, Colchester, Essex – April 2013

St Helena School lies within the oppidum of Camulodunum and the Later Iron Age and Roman trading depot at Sheepen. The site of the proposed new building lies 20m north-west of a Romano-Celtic temple and within its precinct. An evaluation by four trial-trenches revealed three Roman pits, a compacted gravel layer (surface), and a dump of ceramic building material.
One of the pits contained a group of five, low-denomination Roman coins dated to c AD 43-64. These are from a hoard or purse group possibly deposited at the time of the Boudican revolt, pre-dating the construction of the temple in the late 1st or early 2nd century.