Trust archaeologists excavating the Roman circus

Yesterday (1st November), Trust archaeologists Ben Holloway and Mark Baister began a short phase of work on our excavation on part of the site of the Roman circus, in front of our building Roman Circus House. Trust archaeologist Emma Holloway began drawing on the site on Wednesday. Ben and Mark are cleaning the site up and excavating the exposed circus features further. The features include some of the surface of the arena, the line of the inner wall of the cavea (seating-stand) of the circus, demolition debris from the area of the seating-stand, the post-Roman robber-trench which defines the outer wall of the cavea and, most importantly, the stone foundations of the buttresses to the outer wall. The buttresses are of different widths and they are crucial to our reconstruction of the plan of the circus.

Next week the Trust is hosting a consultation on these exposed circus features with a representative from English Heritage, the landowners, and the Colchester Borough Council Archaeology Officer. The Trust is seeking permission to keep the exposed circus features open for public viewing, with appropriate protection from the elements, and also to build a replica of part of the seating-stand here. The modern trench containing a pipe will be backfilled.

The circus centre at Roman Circus House, and the circus site and excavation, are open to visitors on every weekday, 10.30am-4.30pm. Entry is free. This short phase of work on the circus excavation should continue until the middle of next week.

The images show Mark, Ben and Emma working on our circus excavation site yesterday, with Roman Circus House in the background; the middle image shows the remains of the circus.

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