Five evaluation trenches (test pits) were excavated inside the Co-Operative Store, 21-31 Long Wyre Street. The trenches measured 2 x 2.5m and were dug by hand. All the trenches produced archaeological deposits of varying depths. Trial trench number 1 revealed upper deposits dominated by a succession of post-medieval and modern topsoils. These sealed a layer of medieval soil, cut by a pit. These in turn sealed a Roman soil layer and Roman masonry footing. Trial trench 2 revealed a metalled Roman street lying directly below the modern concrete slab. This was because part of the Co-Operative building had been terraced down. Trial hole 3 revealed a blanket of recent soils overlying Roman deposits. Trial hole 4 showed a capping of recent soils overlying a medieval robber trench which showed the position and course of a Roman wall. A depth of Roman clay may have formed part of a floor foundation associated with this wall. The clay lay over an earlier Roman gravel surface (floor or yard?). The dumped clay also contained chopped up plaster - the demolished remains of an earlier masonry building. Trial hole 5 revealed a Roman mosaic pavement with gravel foundation which underlay a series of modern soils. The pavement indicates the formal room of a town house which may belong to the same structure as the robbed wall. Beneath the mosaic floor a series of Roman soils sealed a layer of orange burnt debris originating in the Boudican destruction of AD60/61. The destruction was associated with a masonry wall - a certain early Roman structure. <1><2><3> Th eevaluation was followed by full excavation in 1998. <4>