A trial-trenched evaluation was carried out by Archaeology South-East at Land north of Axial Way, Colchester in July 2016, in advance of the commercial development of the 0.7ha site (CBC planning application 152866 for a new motor dealership).<1> Five evaluation trenches (each 30m long x 1.8m wide, representing a 4% sample) were excavated, three of which were found to contain archaeological remains. The earliest recorded remains, in Trenches 1 and 2, were parts of two sides of a field enclosure which is shown on later 19th to later 20th century OS mapping. It was evidently infilled in the modern period. An undated gully was recorded in Trench 3. No charcoal-filled pits of probable Iron Age date, as found previously on sites to the north and west, were encountered. The evaluation demonstrated that the site had previously been stripped of topsoil to the top of the natural deposit and a variable thickness of made-ground subsequently deposited across it. Wheel ruts deriving from heavy plant movement were identified in Trench 2.