Eleven trial trenches (233m of trenching in total) were excavated at land to the east of Brook Street, prior to a planning application (F/COL/03/2164) for residential development being determined (2.8ha. area). <1> The evaluation defined several pits and a ditch of 14th to 16th century date, recorded near to the corner of Brook Street and Barrack Street, on the higher ground. These resembled domestic rubbish pits and they probably relate to a property fronting Barrack Street to the south. Evidence of sand quarrying was found on the higher ground, and clay quarrying on the lower ground to the east. Some archaeological features may have been destroyed by this quarrying activity as well as by the landfill pit and the car park, both south of the Co-op warehouse. Modern pits are probably a reflection of the gradual encroachment of the Victorian suburbs onto open land. The Civil War 1648 Siege ditch was not definitely identified.