An archaeological evaluation in 2001 found evidence for the remains of a substantial Roman building.<1>
A thick layer of 'dark earth' was found to cover the demolition deposits up to a thickness of 2m. The undisturbed nature of the dark earth and the demolition deposit, suggests the well-preserved remains of a substantial Roman building below the proposed development area. The earliest deposit encountered in Trench 1 consisted of a pale pink opus signinum floor at a depth of 2m below the current ground level. The floor appeared to extend the entire length and width of the trench. Due to the amount of ground water encountered and the depth of the trench at this point, further investigative work was curtailed for health and safety reasons. Sealing the floor surface, there was a layer of fragmented Roman wall plaster and roofing tile at a depth of 1.7m below the current ground level. Most of the plaster was in pieces measuring c.5-10cm in diameter and painted red. However, some of the recovered fragments showed traces of grey paint and in one case a white fragment had two parallel green lines painted across it. Again this deposit appeared to span the entire length and width of the trench. Above these layers was a deposit of dark brown silty sand, completely sealing the lower deposits. This contained little in the way of finds but some fragments of Roman painted wall plaster, opus signinum and Roman roofing tile were observed.

Trench 2 contained some similar deposits, with a layer of very fragmented wall plaster which was sealed by a layer of dark brown silty sand as before.