Two small test pits were dug by hand by CAT in the (redundant) playground in Hollytrees Meadow in January 2013.<1> In both test pits a layer of bark and gravel overlay a terram sheet (L1), which in turn overlay a layer of demonstrably modern, compacted clayey-silt soil (L2). In Test pit 1 (next to the helter-skelter) the modern layers L1 and L2 overlaid a thick deposit of topsoil (L3), which contained modern/post-medieval finds in the upper part of the layer (glass and modern pottery sherds) and Roman finds throughout (pottery sherds, tesserae, and brick and tile fragments). What appeared to be demolition material from a Roman building (L4) was uncovered at a depth of c 750 mm below modern ground level beneath the topsoil in Test pit 1. In Test pit 2 (next to the swings near the southern edge of the playground) the modern layers L1 and L2 overlaid a grey/pale yellow deposit (L5), which contained numerous charcoal inclusions as well as Roman finds (brick, tile and pottery sherds). It is possible that L5 may have been the fill of a pit or a Roman occupation layer. The excavation of a small exploratory hole into L5 indicated that the material was not redeposited and did not appear to contain any finds that suggest the layer is not Roman in date. Over the southern part of the playground, the uppermost surviving Roman deposit was considerably shallower than Test pit 1. In Test pit 2, it lay approximately 300 mm below the modern ground level (i.e. roughly 100 mm below the top of L16). It is probable that a 'cut-and-fill' technique was used to create the flat plateau on which the old play area is situated. This would explain why a deep deposit of topsoil was identified down-slope in the northern test pit and no topsoil at all was identified in the southern-most test pit, which is further up-slope.