An archaeological watching brief was undertaken during the excavation of a new soke dyke on land at Branston Island, Branston and Mere. The watching brief identified a number of archaeological deposits and structures. It was also intended that the watching brief should include monitoring of toe protection works along a 350m long section of the right hand bank of the Old River Witham. This involved the removal of silts situated along the edge of the river channel in order to create fish refuges. This part of the watching brief did not produce any meaningful results {1} {2}