A watching brief was conducted on intrusive groundworks associated with the enhancement of existing flood defences on the Victoria Embankment, The Meadows, Nottingham. The route of the groundworks encompassed the road that runs along the Victoria Embankment and the Recreation Ground. The extent of the works ran from the road opposite the Wilford Suspension Bridge eastwards to Trent Bridge. A combination of interventions were used during the construction of the enhanced flood defence which included the excavation of pits and trenches to hold sheet piles, stripping of top and subsoils on the existing recreation ground and the removal of tarmac surfaces on roads and pathways. The works that were subject to the watching brief passed close to two listed structures, a bandstand, late 19th /early 20thcentury in date and the war memorial which dates to the 1920’s. The groundworks did not impact on either of these structures. Some potentially important archaeology was identified by Allen and Appleton (2005)within the general area of the groundworks. These include a cropmark enclosure, the site of a Victorian Public Bath and an Anglo-Saxon find spot. The 1880 OS shows that the location of the public bath was outside the area affected by the enhancement of the flood defences. No significant archaeological features were uncovered and no artefacts of any archaeological value were revealed as a result of the groundworks. During the course of the watching brief it was noted that the entire area had been the subject of significant ground disturbance in the recent past. This is to be associated with the building of the embankment itself in the 19th century, earlier flood defences and the setting out of the recreation ground in the 20th century. To these can be added the construction of the road that now forms the thoroughfare that runs on the top of the embankment from Wilford Bridge to London Road. It is likely that these phases of ground disturbance could have removed any archaeological remains that may have existed in the areas through which the flood defence enhancement passed.