Roman street metalling was recorded in or near the bottom of the trench for a replacement gas main in St Botolph’s Street, Colchester, especially in the northern 60m or so of the street outside the walled town. It was approximately 0.2-0.25m thick and was reached at 0.9-1.2m below the modern street-level. It was seen most clearly outside 5-10 St Botolph’s Street (Sx 1). <1>

The upper part of the gravel metalling (L5) was black in colour while the lower part was greyish-brown with an olive hue. The black colour seemed to be the result of staining rather than a different phase of metalling, and it proved difficult to distinguish between different layers or phases of metalling within L5. The metalling sealed a thin layer of make-up (L7), 0.1m thick, which in turn sealed the natural subsoil (L8). No finds were definitely recovered from L5 or L7 although, on stratigraphical grounds, it is likely that they were Roman in date.
A disturbed layer of gravel metalling or make-up was observed immediately north of Short Wyre Street inside the walled town. This was up to 0.2m thick and was reached at only 0.5-0.6m below the modern street-level. It sealed natural sand (L8) and was possibly also of Roman date.
The metalling (L5) was sealed by a mixed, dark greyish-brown deposit (L4; Sx 1), which was 0.1-0.5m thick. This deposit was found over much of the length of the trench, although it varied in texture. At the southern end of the trench, for example, it was over 0.5m thick and was black in colour with
abundant ashy and cindery inclusions. It was typically reached at a depth of about 0.7m below the modern street-level. The deposit L4 is probably a post-Roman topsoil, often termed ‘dark earth’ (CAR 3, 92), which has been extensively re-worked and redeposited as a result of cultivation, pit-digging, the
dumping of refuse and other activities. <2>