A watching brief was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust in May 2015 during the groundworks for the connection of a water supply to new properties on land between Northgate Street and Shortcut Road, at the west end of Northgate Street. Contractors hand-excavated a small trench in the southern half of the highway (opposite number 6), 1.95 x 0.75m in area, to reveal approximately 300mm of tarmac and hogging overlaying a 500mm-thick deposit of dark brown silty loam. The latter contained abundant modern building material along with residual fragments of Roman tile and septaria. An armoured electrical cable was laid into this. Beneath the silty loam layer was a dark brown silty clay with abundant fragments of peg-tile, small stones and oyster shells. No further reduction in level was required past this point and no significant archaeological remains were encountered during the watching brief. <1>