Archaeological trial-trenching evaluation at Colchester County High School for Girls, Norman Way, Colchester, Essex – March 2014

The County High School for Girls is within both the oppidum of Camulodunum and the Roman town’s western cemetery. Two evaluation trenches (total length, 16m) were located within the footprint of the proposed new sixth form block to be situated in what is now an open grassed square occupied by three re-locatable classrooms.
One archaeological feature was revealed by the evaluation: a Roman ditch dating to the later 1st century AD. The ditch was aligned at right-angles to the defensive triple ditches seen on the school site in 1955, and is parallel to ditches seen on the St Benedict’s School site in 1939. An hypothesis to be tested by future excavation is that all three sets of ditches are related.