An archaeological watching brief was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust during the groundworks in advance of the construction of a new Languages Centre at the Sixth Form College, Colchester. <1> The groundworks included ground-reduction, piling, and the machine-digging of foundation and service trenches. Monitoring of the groundworks was carried out by CAT during intermittent site visits from the 27th July to the 26th September 2011. Along the southern edge of the site, the uppermost surviving Roman deposits were uncovered during machine excavation. These were excavated by CAT down to the level required by the contractors. The deposits consisted mainly of late Roman demolition debris, which included many fragments of Roman painted wall-plaster and brick/tile. A late 3rd-century coin and some Roman pottery were among the other finds recovered. The top of an unrobbed east-west Roman wall foundation F3 was also uncovered in two places, c.5.5m apart; The top of F3 lay 200-300mm below the general level of the site following ground-reduction. Wall foundation F3 was approximately 0.43m wide. It was of stone-and-mortar construction, consisting mainly of septaria set in a pale brown mortar. The eastern exposure of F3 was sealed by Roman demolition debris (L4, L5), whereas the western exposure was sealed by ‘dark earth’ (L2), with L4 extending up to its southern edge. The two lengths of foundation remained largely unexcavated. Only their upper surfaces were exposed and they were left intact in the bases of the modern foundation trenches.These remains perhaps formed part of the same Roman building that was excavated nearby in 2005-6 (Building 212, probably part of a bath-house)(CAT Report 347, 25-6). <2> A large quantity of Roman painted wall-plaster fragments was recovered from L4. Many pieces of Roman brick/tile also came from L4. Most of these came from roof tiles, with a few from keyed tiles. Among the other finds were tesserae, potsherds, animal bone fragments, iron nails and a few oyster shells, as well as fragments of unpainted plaster. Pieces of stone, mainly septaria with occasional fragments of greensand, were fairly common. Much of this material was probably demolition debris deriving from one or more Roman buildings on the site. The clayey component of the layer probably derives from collapsed daub walls. The eastern part of L4 was sealed by a thin olive-brown dump layer (L5). This extended for a couple of metres north and west of pile E. It was approximately 150mm thick. Among the finds from L5 was a late Roman coin dated AD 271-4 (SF 1). Stratigraphically, the latest Roman deposit uncovered was a rubble spread (L3). It was approximately 250mm thick and consisted of large quantities of Roman brick/tile fragments and pieces of stone, mainly septaria. The uppermost Roman deposits were sealed by a substantial layer of dark greyish-brown post-Roman topsoil or ‘dark earth’ (L2). This was approximately 1m thick and extended over most of the site. Among the finds recovered during the cleaning over of the latest Roman layers in the south-western corner of the site were two potsherds of probable Middle-Late Saxon date. These sherds probably derive from the lower part of the ‘dark earth’ (L2). In the south-eastern part of the site, machining for the foundation trench between piles E and F uncovered a shallow east-west ditch (F2). Only the bottom of this feature survived, cut into the uppermost Roman deposits. It survived approximately 700mm wide and 100mm deep, and was traced for just over 700mm east-west as it crossed the foundation trench. The backfill of F2 looked similar to ‘dark earth’ (L2). Among the small number of finds from F2 were a couple of fragments of peg-tile, which suggests that it was possibly medieval or more likely post-medieval/modern in date. During the machining of the foundation trench along the eastern edge of the site, a small quantity of dog bones (F1) was recovered. Some of these bones, including vertebrae and ribs, were still articulated and in situ. They lay in ‘dark earth’(L2), 500-800mm below the modern ground-level. Only those bones within the foundation trench were recovered. The dog had presumably been deliberately buried in a pit, although no definite pit edges were identified. A fragment of clay-pipe stem was recovered with the bone, indicating that the burial was probably post-medieval or later in date. The watching brief followed an trial trenched evaluation in June 2011 (CAT Report 596). <3>