Excavations were undertaken by Colchester Archaeological Trust in 1986 along Museum Street, Colchester. Work on laying the surface of paving bricks along Museum Street was carried out in several stages in order to allow continued pedestrian access. Initially the street itself, up to the properties on the eastern side of the street, was dug up and paved. Then the pavement along the western side of the street was taken up and paved. Finally, the open area at the northern end of the street, in front of the park gates, was paved. The resurfacing work involved the removal by the contractors of the existing surfaces and the stripping of the underlying deposits to a depth of 0.3-0.5m below the modern ground-level. Limited archaeological excavation was possible after each phase of stripping, immediately prior to the start of the paving work. In the short time available, it was usually only possible to clean the surfaces of the exposed remains and to briefly record them. They were subsequently left intact beneath the brick paving. Finally, a number of small trial holes (Tha-Tho) were dug in the open area at the northern end of the street in an attempt to locate any further remains. <1> Part of a large north-south Roman wall, at least 2.1m wide, was uncovered under the pavement in the south-western corner of Museum Street at the junction with High Street. Where it was best preserved, it survived to within 0.3m bgl. The eastern side was neatly-faced with Roman brick, which survived at least eight courses high immediately south of 107 High Street. The core of the wall consisted of a hard pale brown mortar with fragments of Roman brick/tile and septaria. A series of extensive post Roman foundations (again 0.3m bgl) extended for nearly 30m along the street to the north-east of the Roman foundation in the south-western corner of Museum Street. These proved difficult to interpret as they were only partially excavated, due to the time and depth restrictions, and were not all exposed at the same time. They were much disturbed by later features, especially modern service trenches. The foundations were of broadly similar construction, which differed from that of the Roman foundation. They consisted of a yellowish sandy mortar occasionally with visible shell inclusions. They incorporated fragments of re-used Roman brick/tile, septaria, and occasionally greensand, often with Roman mortar adhering to them. There was a conspicuous absence of post-Roman brick, peg-tile and slate. The post-Roman foundations clearly pre-dated the existing buildings in Museum Street, but they were not easy to interpret and may not necessarily all be of the same phase. The report suggests they probably formed part of a gateway and an outer barbican at the main entrance into the inner bailey of the Norman castle, of the so-called 'Dunbarr Gate. Little archaeological dating evidence was recovered for the construction of the foundations. <1><2><3><4> Fifteen small trial holes (Tha-Tho) were dug by hand at the northern end of Museum Street and in the open area in front of the park gates, at the junction with Ryegate Road. The depth of the trial holes varied depending on the extent of later obstructions and disturbance, but most were just over 1m deep. No further traces of foundations were found. 6.4.2 Well-defined surfaces were uncovered in most of the trial holes. Those in Tha, THb and THd, were predominantly of gravel, with sparse brick and other fragments. The surfaces in THf, THg, THl, THm and THn were more rubbly, comprising brick, tile and mortar fragments as well as some gravel and cobbles. The surfaces in THj and THk were mainly of gravel with some brick, but were set on a make-up layer of mortar fragments. They probably formed earlier phases of Museum Street and Ryegate Road. Where the trial holes were excavated deep enough (eg THf, THk and THn), the surfaces were found to seal deposits of dark greyish-brown, post-Roman topsoil or ‘dark earth’. Additional observations were made during a watching brief at 3-7 Museum Street in 2010, during refurbishment. This involved the contractors hand-digging a number of trenches (T1-T6) to take concrete foundations for posts, ground beams and other structural supports. They also lowered in places the level of the deposits under the modern floors. <1>