A watching brief was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust during the groundworks for the construction of two semi-detached houses (following demolition of existing) at 56 Creffield Road, Colchester (Colchester Borough Council planning application 130958).<1> Three Roman burials, two cremation burials and an inhumation, were excavated during the works. One of the cremation burials was urned. The other one was disturbed, but was possibly unurned; there was a complete Roman factory lamp from this burial. Only the lower limb bones of the inhumation were exposed. A substantial post-Roman ditch F4 extended roughly from south to north down the middle of the site. It seems likely that F4 was a post-medieval field boundary ditch, although it has not been identified on early maps. Another possibility is that F4 was part of a Parliamentary earthwork, dating to the Siege of Colchester in 1648.<1>