During the excavations at Balkerne Lane between 1973-6 (ECC332) a Roman strip-house (CAT Building 39) was discovered. This was one of several buildings (MCC494, MCC495, MCC496) of similar type built along a common frontage outside the west gate of the abandoned Legionary fortress during the early years of the Colonia. It is not clear how far back from the frontage the building extended.

The building had floors and walls of daub. Most of the walls seem to have been of stud-and-wattle type although some walls which survived to a height of a few centimetres had no studs and may have been of the daub-block type. The buildings plan remains unclear as little survived the clearance work which followed its destruction during the Boudican revolt. The building may have had a passage down the east side which contained an oven.<1>