An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Colchester Archaeological Trust, from November 2008 to February 2009, on a cable trench (1,750m long) in Friday Wood, Berechurch, Colchester. The open-cut trench was dug by a mechanical excavator and was roughly 1.25m wide and 2m deep. It housed four ducts. In places, a corridor about 5m wide was stripped of topsoil before trench-digging commenced. There was also topsoil-stripping in the areas where directional drilling took place and along the line of an access track at the southern end of the trench. The natural subsoil (L3) was reached along all parts of the trench, 0.3-0.5m below the modern ground surface. No significant archaeological remains were defined, although an assemblage of late Victorian/Edwardian pottery and glass was recovered from a large pit, approximately 3.5m wide and at least 1.35m deep bgl, approximately 300m north of the Roman River. Among the unstratified finds from the machined surface were two possible worked flints (finds nos 2 and 4) and a small fragment of probable Roman brick/tile (finds no 3). <1>