A watching brief was carried out and maintained between September, 1995 and January, 1996 during the construction of the Safeways supermarket, located on the former sports field north of Wincheap and east of the Wincheap Park and Ride car park (TR 1390 5695).

A total of twenty-five features were located, consisting of mainly ditches and a few pits, mostly along the west of the site's perimeter and a few along its north and east sides. All were sealed by loamy brickearth, which was interpreted as probably representing agricultural activity, which had almost certainly truncated many, if not all, of these features.

The only structural remains consisted of a complete length of a gravel-filled foundation trench, representing the east side of a building measuring approximately 17.10m long. No trace of any superstructure was observed, but the substantial size of the foundation inferred that this would have been masonry in construction. No datable material was recovered from the foundation, but artefacts recovered elsewhere from the site were all Roman in date, suggesting the foundation was also Roman. To the north and south of the foundation, patches of gravel and Roman brick and tile were observed and recorded, and interpreted as probably the remains of an outside yard associated with this possible Roman structure.

To the east lay the north side of a large ditched enclosure, with traces of what may have been its west side (the east and south sides were not located) and interpreted as a possible enclosure for livestock, as minimal traces of occupation were found within it.

Pottery recovered from the site ranged in date from the first to the early or mid second centuries AD, with two sherds dated to the fourth century AD. Although slightly earlier than the ceramic assemblage recovered from the adjacent archaeological watching brief at the Wincheap Park and Ride in 1993, which was mainly second to third century AD in date, it was suggested that both sites formed part of an extra-mural settlement in the Roman period. The absence of industrial activity in the area and the topographic location of the site (near to fertile meadow land) also suggested that the settlement was agricultural in nature.

Anderson, I., 1997, Safeways, Wincheap (Monograph). SKE30830.