Observations were made during an archaeological watching brief on groundworks for a detached dwelling next top 56 Shelley Road, Colchester. The width of the foundation trenches was 500mm and their depth up to 1.05m. The drain-trenches were dug to between 600mm and 700mm in depth. The topsoil and some of the subsoil had already been stripped off the site by the time of the first visit. This stripping was not monitored archaeologically. Because of the sloping ground on site, more subsoil had to be stripped off from the southern side to level out the site, and natural was exposed. No archaeological features or finds were observed on the site. <1>