A Desk-based assessment was carried out for the area around Severalls Hospital which identified a wide range of material in that area including loose prehistoric and Roman fins, undated cropmarks sites and a nearby medieval quarrying site.<1>
Evaluation trenches on the proposed route for Phase 3 of Colchester's Northern Approach Road examined a total area of 3,400sq m's at Cuckoo Farm and in the grounds of Severalls Hospital. Finds were sparse. Features that did contain dating evidence were either post-medieval or modern. Other features included a deep clay-filled trench and small charcoal-filled pits which were scattered over a large area of the site: in the absence of finds their dates remain indeterminate.<2><3>
Some of the cropmark features were excavated within the trenches - see EHER 2644, 14317.