THE ESSEX SOCIETY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY Volume 9 · 2018 74 The waste of Caesaromagus . Romano-British refuse pits and later features at Moulsham Street, Chelmsford Andrew A. S. Newton, Samuel Thomelius, Andrew Peachey, Peter Thompson, John Summers, and Julie Curl. Illustrations and graphics by Kathren Henry In May 2018 Archaeological Solutions (AS) carried out an archaeological excavation on land at 181 Moulsham Street, Chelmsford, Essex (NGR TL 7074 0629). The excavation was carried out to provide for the requirements of a planning condition. The Essex Historic Environment Record (EHER) notes the site lies in the heart of the Roman town of Caesaromagus and the medieval settlement of Chelmsford. The site itself lies adjacent to Moulsham Street, a major Roman road between London and Colchester, in an area where Roman structures and occupation evidence are common. The excavation revealed a number of post-medieval/early modern features. It also revealed four pits of Romano-British date. These contained significant finds assemblages. The overwhelming character of the activity is suggestive of refuse deposition but this provides interesting information about the character of the surrounding area. INTRODUCTION Modern Chelmsford developed from two historic centres, a Roman town, Caesaromagus, to the south of, and a medieval market town to the north of the river Can. The Roman town (EHER 5831) dates from the aftermath of the Boudiccan revolt in the mid-1st century AD, and was established around a fort on the main London to Colchester Road. The fort was abandoned in c.AD 70, and a civilian settlement developed along the road that included enclosures interpreted as a ‘road station’ which, following extensive re-planning of the town between c.AD 120–150, developed into a mansio (government posting station) within a large official precinct. The town grew to its maximum extent in the mid-2nd century, with defences constructed in c.AD 160–175, but the urban centre gradually declined in the mid-3rd to 4th centuries AD. It is generally considered that the Moulsham suburb of modern Chelmsford, south of the rivers Chelmer and Can, is the most likely location for the Roman settlement of Caesaromagus (Wacher 1975, 195). Moulsham Street itself developed along the line of the main London to Colchester Roman Road (Wickenden 1992, 49; Cunningham and Drury 1985, 19). Stratigraphic evidence indicates that Moulsham Street developed as a medieval hollow way (Drury 1988, 50). Evidence for activity associated with the Roman precursor to Moulsham Street has been recorded at several locations. This includes a ‘military’ ditch, a road ditch which was replaced by a series of timber buildings and which, in turn, were replaced with a further ditch and rampart, followed by civilian development of the street frontage at 59 to 63 Moulsham Street and 1st-century timber-framed buildings, early 2nd-century pits and evidence for iron smithing, and mid to late 2nd-century pits at 179 to 180 Moulsham Street (Drury 1988, 51–73). In May 2018, Archaeological Solutions (AS) carried out an archaeological excavation on land at 181 Moulsham Street (Fig. 1), adjacent to the site which yielded the evidence for 1st- century timber-framed buildings and iron smithing and which also contained pits of 2nd-century date. It was undertaken to provide for the requirements of a planning condition attached to planning approval for an extension and alterations and was required based on the advice of the Historic Environment Advisor of Essex County Council. The excavation had been preceded by a trial-trench evaluation (Fig. 2), the specific aims of which were to identify evidence of Roman structures and settlement activity and/or medieval settlement activity. During the evaluation two pits containing very small quantities of potentially in situ Roman pottery were identified, including a fine reduced ware beaker and coarse grey ware jar that suggest that the features may not post-date the 2nd century AD. However, the majority of features identified were post-medieval pits (McDonald 2018). THE EXCAVATION Based on the results of the Trial Trench Evaluation (McDonald 2018; Fig 2), further investigation in the vicinity of Trial Trench 1, where archaeological features were recorded in greatest density, was required by Essex County Council. The northern end of Trench 1 was enlarged to cover an area of 8m x 6m. The area opened up for excavation contained Ditches F2002 and F2033; Posthole F2008; and Pits F2004, F2006, F2010, F2012, F2014, F2016, F2018, F2020, F2022, F2026, F2028, F2033 and F2035 (Fig. 3). Based on artefactual evidence and stratigraphic relationships it was possible to identify four distinct phases of activity (Table 1, Fig. 3). This archaeological activity ranged in date from Roman to 19th/20th century and occurred in addition to more recent ‘modern’ activity. The Romano-British Archaeology Four of the recorded features were assigned a Romano-British date. Three of these formed an intercutting cluster towards the north-north-eastern edge of the excavated area (Fig. 3). The earliest of these was F2028. This contained a charcoal-rich basal fill, possibly suggesting that hearth or oven waste was dumped into it, and a firm sandy silt upper fill, similar to the fills of several other features recorded here. Finds from this basal fill were limited in comparison to the upper fill of F2028 and the fills of the other features in this group. F2028 was cut to the south-east by F2026. This contained only a single firm sandy silt fill but a considerable quantity of artefactual material, including two pieces of worked bone and a copper pin (SFs 2-4). Subsequently, the north-western edge of F2026 was cut by F2006, which served to completely obscure F2028 other than in section. This too contained a notable artefactual assemblage, particularly pottery (in excess of 3kg) and slag. To the west of these features was the much smaller Pit F2018