Trial trenching by Essex County Council at The Riverside Centre, Braintree, 2010 - EEX55916

Archaeological evaluation by trial trenching was carried out on land to the east of 45/47 Notley Road, Braintree, in advance of proposed residential development at the Riverside Centre. The evaluation was undertaken as part of a condition placed on planning consent by Braintree District Council on the advice of the Essex CC Historic Environment Management team (ECC HEM). As much of the Riverside Centre area has been subject to previous quarrying activity and industrial/modern disturbance only Phase 5 (plots 66-73) of the development was required to be evaluated. A single evaluation trench, orientated north-east/south-west, was located within the rectangular footprint of the new build. The trench position was limited by a number of small to medium-sized trees along the north-western edge of the footprint and the presence of a live electricity cable crossing the south-eastern end of the footprint. The trench was 27m long by 1.6m wide and varied in depth from 0.6m in the west to 1.2m in the east.