During the Middleborough excavations in 1979 (ECC335), a Roman street (F27) was discovered which apparently led from the North Gate of the Roman town towards the site at Sheepen. The street was of two distinct parts. The first part stretched from the North Gate to the south end of CAT Building 69 (MCC367) and its later replacement, the large Roman courtyard building (CAT Building 70 = MCC368). Repeated surfacing of this stretch of the road led to an accumulation of metalling over a metre thick.
The second part of the street was a continuation of the first stretch, westwards and at a slightly different angle. The metalling of this stretch was 0.65m thick at most, suggesting perhaps that it was an addition that had been little used. CAT Building 71 (MCC397) was not aligned directly on the street and appears to have encroached on it.

'The street was probably Flavian in origin' because the street was laid out at a sharp angle to the North Gate of the town 'showing that the street could not have been constructed before defences had been established in this position' (CAR 3, p.11).

The course of the street was confirmed by a watching brief held during construction work.<1>

The street appears to be heading in a NW direction towards the Sheepen temple complex (St Helena School) (see MCC605).