very interesting roadworks at Roman Circus House

Yesterday (30th April), Taylor Wimpey’s groundworks team started work on the historic roadway around Roman Circus House. The roadway was part of the Artillery (Le Cateau) Barracks and consists of the crescent around the garden of the former Sergeants’ Mess, a short linking road, and Le Cateau Road, which connects the crescent – and the barracks – with Circular Road North, one of the main roads of the old garrison. The roadway is being converted to a tarmac pedestrian and cycle route which leads to the new residential development at the old artillery barracks, and to Roman Circus House! The Trust will also have vehicular access from Butt Road, via the new residential development. The groundworks team are removing the modern road surface along the sides of the roadway to create the new, narrower route. The old kerb, which borders the whole garden area of Roman Circus House, is being preserved.

The kerb stones are probably made of granite and we think that the whole kerb is an original part of the Artillery (Le Cateau) Barracks, which was built from 1874-5; the line of the kerb is shown on the ground-plan for the building of the barracks. The artillery barracks’ main gate is on Butt Road; the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) used the roadway to get their field guns onto the Abbey Field for firing practice or, if being deployed somewhere else, to get to the Mersea Road and so to St Botolph’s railway station.

The groundworks yesterday exposed a length of the whole kerb and the old gutter of the roadway, along the kerb. The gutter is constructed of probably granite setts which were mostly laid three deep and with a pronounced camber. The sides of the old roadway are being dug up and removed and, below the modern tarmac and concrete, the material is like a hardcore of stones which was not tarmacked, but possibly had just been compressed by a steamroller to create the old surface of the roadway. The groundworks team are exposing the kerb and gutter and then cleaning them, as they work their way round the roadway. Being an archaeological field unit, we went out and did some photographic recording of the evidence!

Visitor access to Roman Circus House will be difficult for a while, as the roadway cannot be used during the roadworks, and the road through the residential development is closed until the historic former Sergeants’ Mess – recently damaged by fire – is stabilised with scaffolding.

The images show the roadway in front of Roman Circus House yesterday, after the day’s works; part of the fully exposed kerb and gutter, before being cleaned; and an old postcard showing the RFA on the Abbey Field in the early 20th century, with two buildings of the artillery barracks in the background, both of which are still standing (image published here by kind permission of Jess Jephcott).

.