Three trial trenches were excavated at the Charrington's Transport site in Spurgeon Street in order to explore the archaeological implications of large scale residential redevelopment of the land. Trench locations were chosen to minimise inconvenience to existing users of the site and to avoid the need to break through, and reinstate, areas of concrete. No manual cleaning of the lower levels of the trenches was attempted due to the depths involved and the unstable nature of the trench sides. The first trench was excavated in three offset sections. Section A was abandoned at a depth of 0.35m to avoid disturbance to modern drains. Section B and C were restricted to overall depths of 1.4 and 1.8m. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted and excavation ceased on exposure of mixed gravely sand and clay. The second trench was located 20m north-west of trench 1 and set a tangent to the river bank. Excavation of the trench ceased at an overall depth of 2.8m after clay was reached at 2.4m. River silts encountered at 2m contained a number of pieces of timber, several of which contained dwelling and pitch sealant. These were of probable post-medieval date. The third trench was located near the bottom of rising ground in the centre of the proposed development. Excavation ceased at a depth of 1.5m. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted. The total lack of residual Roman debris from the site may suggest that the Roman road was diverted to a more convenient crossing point.<1> See also ECC2005.