An evaluation by G Hayman of SCAU for Pearce Construction (South East) Ltd, of a redevelopment site in the centre of the town, found that some of the site had been damaged by the construction of modern basements, but that extensive stratigraphy survived elsewhere. A sequence of prehistoric, Roman and medieval deposits was recorded. Subsequent excavation was carried out by T Ennis of Tempus Reparatum. The earliest activity on the site appears to have been Late Bronze Age, followed by occupation in the Late Iron Age or early Roman period. More intensive activity began cAD 55-70 and continued into the 2nd century. These occupation layers were sealed by flood deposits, themselves covered by dump deposits of late 3rd century date. Above these a ‘dark earth’ deposit containing late 3rd and 4th century material covered much of the site. Little Saxon or Saxo-Norman pottery was recovered and the site appears to have then stayed peripheral to settlement until the 12th century, when intensive occupation recommenced.