Two trial trenches were excavated by Colchester Archaeological Trust on land east of Brook Street, Colchester. This was followed by a watching brief during the groundworks for a new residential development (and associated works) on the 2.8ha. site.<1> The archaeological investigations took place on several different occasions. Initially, a watching brief was undertaken during machine-stripping for (the entrance of) the access road from Brook Street in the north-western part of the site (25m long x 10m wide x 1.5m deep), in May 2011. This was followed by the machine-digging of two E to W trial trenches (2011 T1, 2011 T2) in the western part of the site in December 2011. The more southerly (2011 T1) was 80m long. The other trench (2011 T2) was 70m long. A watching brief was carried out from October to November 2012 during the machine-digging of trenches for foul-water drains in the eastern part of the site. In the western part of the site, the natural subsoil (L3) was reached at a depth of roughly 600-800 mm below the modern ground-level. In the eastern part of the site, the depth and nature of the natural subsoil was more varied. This area had been much affected by modern activity, including the digging of large pits and the accumulation of thick dumped deposits. Features were sparse and those that were uncovered were probably all modern in date. The archaeological investigations followed an earlier archaeological evaluation by CAT on the western half of the site in July 2004 (CAT Report 281), and a desk-based assessment (CAT Report 233). <2><3>