Colchester Roman town - first E-W street from the north. The towers at each end have not been seen but there is reason to believe that masonry visible in the grounds of the Technical College is part of Tower no.2. The S wall of insula 6 is traced for 325ft. Two sections of the street were made, revealing 23.5ft and 24.5ft of metalling respectively. the second cut showed natural loamy sand at a depth of 5.25ft from the surface. The metalling showed two periods with incedental repairs. Section showed, above the loam; a burnt layer overlain by over 2ft of rammed sand and gravel; 3-4" of clay mixed with white mortar, oyster shells and much wood ash; a road surface of gravel and broken brick compounded with mortar 8-12" thick; a road surface above this made up in narrower form by a bank of rammed sand and gravel with some tile and much oyster shell. The pottery from the ash layer was not very determinate but is thought to be not later than the mid C2 - it may have been old when deposited. When the old PArk Cafe was pulled down in 1930 a deep cutting was made in the W side of the bank of the Norman ditch for the basement of the new cafe. In it the street was clearly seen in the W face as a cambered bank of red gravel 12ft wide and 8" thick. Beneath it was a layer of dark earth and stones c.2" thick. This lay on a black layer c.1" thick apparently of decayed wood which capped a thick deposite of brown cheesy clay - probably natural. Above the red gravel lay a bank of rubble and rubbish 4-11" thick highest at the centre of the road, and above this some 4ft of dark surface soil. Two small patches of mortar lay in the dark layer - they may have belonged to the floor of a room or may be the mortar foundations alone surviving from late walls. This section at c. TL 99932545 <1> <2> The same street was found during investigations by PG Laver in Hollytrees Meadow 1927-9. Here it was "not at all strong, laid on clay and of uncertain width, probably about 18ft with no camber. The metalling was only c.4-5" of rather small and loose gravel and mortar. Farther E (c.TM 00032545) the point where it should cross the tile built darin was examined with interest for the drain stands so high that it would be difficult to cross. Unfortunately just here some 38ft of the west side of the drain had been robbed, and the gravel thoroughly disturbed so that no traces of a street could be seen, unless in the appearance of more gravel than usual in the confused topsoil. The E wall of the drain however was still standing and the street could hardly have passed over it". Photo and section in this source. <1>