A watching brief was undertaken by Colchester Archaeological Trust between 9th - 13th September 1999. 9/9/99: Prior maching had taken place to a depth of 2.65m along the southern edge of the site, extending approx. 2.50m northwards. Crumbled Mortar, tile, septaria and tesserae in section indicated Roman demolition deposits overlying Roman floor levels 2.05m below the modern road level. Stratigraphy was only seen along a limited (1.4m) part of the south section. Dark grey silts in the SW corner formed later intrusive cuts. 10/9/99: The remainder of the site was reduced to 2.65m below street level. Modern construction debris was mixed with many fragments of tile, mortar and tesserae, along with Roman to post medieval finds. There were two small areas of surviving Roman deposits - an area of possible prepared surface or floor make-up F1, comprising a compacted mix of stones and tile fragments with mortar lumps and pottery, overlying a similar stony gravelly deposit L18. The extent of the feature is unknown but it was truncated by a likley pit. The second area to the west of the site consisted of severely truncated deposits L15, L16 and L17. L16 comprised broken chunks of opus signinum, possibly the remains of a base for a floor. 13/9/99: Beneath the eastern section of the site, two amateur archaeologists excvaated beneath the eastern section and uncovered two patches of in situ tesselated floor F2, 2.65m below modern road level. The floor had a deposit of pale brown mortar, with opus signinum fragments, sealing it (L20/L21). L21 was cut by a later feature F3, while the base of a brick wall sat directly on the surface to the north. This survives outside the current proposed development. After recording it was covered over to preserve it. The evidence suggested very disturbed deposits, likely to be the remains of demolition debris from Roman buildings, seen at a depth of c.2.60m. The southern section suggests Roman depsoits survive beneath the road at c.2.05m. A tesselated floor survives at 2.65m below the surface, to the east of the development. 'Islands' of archaeology may survive on the site.