Excavations at a Colchester site have revealed medieval abbey buildings and part of a Roman racetrack. The Colchester Garrison site on Flagstaff Road has yielded four sections of abbey buildings from the medieval St John's Abbey, some of which may be Norman. The 1095 gatehouse of the abbey still stands, but the main buildings were destroyed between the 12th and 15th centuries.

One of the abbey building structures that the archaeologists have unearthed has been a wall and foundations from the monks' cloisters - an exciting discovery as the cloisters had not been found in earlier stages of the excavation, which began in 2002. Very little was known about the appearance or layout of the abbey site at the start of the dig, and it is now supposed that the cloister wall lay to the west of the original building's length.   

The size and depth of the wall found would indicate that this was a substantial abbey, with a church near to the modern town's Officer's Club, and the main monastery to the south of the church.

Amongst what may seem to be the smaller discoveries (including Roman plaster, and central heating tiles) is a 10m square heap of oyster shells. The shells were preserved after meals, and burned to create lime for mortar in construction use. The Colchester Archaeological Trust, working on the dig, has retained several shells to try and determine how the Romans may have farmed oysters in the area.

Evidence of Roman life in the fast lane is also being uncovered. Archaeologists have found an end section of a chariot-racing circus. Access to the east end of the central barrier for this track has not yet been possible, but the team are hopeful of finding it. RPS is project managing the excavations. Senior Archaeological Consultant for RPS, Robert Masefield says "This investigation has provided more evidence of two nationally important elements of Colchester's heritage.

The curved east end of the Roman circus was found exactly where predicted but we were also able to demonstrate the existence of a street surface, burials, quarries and a settlement area around it. The Abbey buildings we found were also expected but their exact positions were unknown. We are now able to provide Taylor Wimpey with sound advice on avoidance of the most significant areas for their detailed planning for this land parcel."

The Garrison site has been earmarked for redevelopment once excavations are fully finished. The entire site covers an area of about 160ha with the dig expected to complete by 2010. The Goojerat, Hyderabad and Roman barracks areas of the site are still to be excavated, and, from its recent track record, the team can clearly look forward to more exciting finds in these parts.

For more information please contact:
RPS London Cottons Centre - Planning & Development
T: +44 (0) 20 7939 8000