A watching brief was held during the excavation of a trench for a new gas main which was dug from south to north running from Cowdray Crescent through the Castle Park and into the east side of the Castle. The trench was comparatively shallow, averaging 0.8m deep and 0.45m wide. The stretch of pipe trench cutting the path up to the south-west corner of the castle consisted largely of modern make-up with fine greyish brown sandy loam with layers of brick rubble and some sand. Further north the trench cut a thin layer of 'dark earth' in places reaching natural sand. A large medieval? pit, or possibly a robber trench, cut natural sand.<1>