Library

From 10th to 14th March 2014 an archaeological evaluation was undertaken at Elizabeth House, 1 High Street, Chesterton, Cambridge (centred on TL 460 598) extending over c. 1.02ha. The work was commissioned by Savills on behalf of ZVI Construction Co. LLC in response to a request from the Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team (CHET). The evaluation was undertaken within an active car park and revealed evidence of post-Medieval activity. Three discrete features were recorded within Trench 4, these were pits two of which contained the remains of pigs that appeared to have been covered with lime or a similar substance. These were most likely dated to the early 20th century when the site comprised allotments. Evidence for quarrying was identified in four of the trenches and appears on OS maps of the same period. Of more recent date were the remains of part of a building identified in Trench 3, and would have been attached to Elizabeth House, demolished sometime towards the end of the 20th century.

Between 23rd and 31st of January 2014 a program of archaeological monitoring and recording was undertaken alongside the construction of a new access road for a housing development at Summersfield and the Papworth Trust, at Papworth Everard, Cambridgeshire (NGR 528650 262730). The site was situated alongside Ermine Street, the supposed route of a Roman Road, and within close proximity to a Romano-British Farmstead. The site was previously occupied by a car park, which had replaced an earlier building constructed on a terrace alongside the road, and as a result the area had been heavily truncated. Two pits and a large amorphous feature of post-Medieval date were recorded. The large amorphous feature was a probable pond recorded in the immediate area on a 1880s map. The two pits may have been associated with St. Johns Hostel.

The archaeological programme accompanying the University's North West Cambridge Development is of a vast-scale and is truly a landscape project. As described here, its first phase involved c. 13.6ha of site-exposure along a gravel ridge-top traversing the city's western claylands and, in this case, running from close-by the Observatory north up to Girton. Yet, this represents only the initial fieldwork stage and in future seasons other sites will be investigated. This has two consequences. First, what is posited here cannot, by any means, be considered the 'last word' and will be surely subject to change through the forthcoming excavations. Second, we are here dealing with enormous amounts of data and which will only grow. Accordingly, the backbone of the programme is it's computing and digitalisation, with all of the project's many reports and support-files posted, like this, up on the Unit's web-site. While scale primarily necessitates this, it is also considered appropriate as it allows the larger programme's diverse 'stakeholders' direct access to both the reports and to share, as it were, in the 'winding path' of the archaeology's interpretation.

An archaeological excavation was undertaken by Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) on land off Gaul Road, March, Cambridgeshire in January and February 2014. The work was carried out in advance of a small housing development. Excavations over an area measuring 1500 m2 revealed a number of pits; the majority of which were clustered in three distinct groups. One of the pits contained a large assemblage of Early Neolithic artefacts, whilst the remaining features were largely sterile of material culture, however they all arguably date to the Early Neolithic. The site seems to be located in the periphery of more extensive Early Neolithic settlement and may represent associated practices perhaps specific to their hinterland location. Some of the pits may also demonstrate pit digging practice atypical of the Early Neolithic in the region.

Following a trial trench evaluation undertaken in 2012 the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) undertook a further programme of trial trenching and full excavation of targeted areas on land west of Fenland Way, Chatteris (centred on TL 3881 8649). An intermittent watching brief was simultaneously carried out on the west side of the Fenton Lode/Twenty Foot Drain to monitor groundworks associated with the relocation of the drain. An open area excavation (0.43ha) focussed on an area of Roman activity identified by the evaluation, revealed the remains of an Early Roman saltern as well as a number of Roman features associated with peripheral settlement activity. Two additional trial trenches revealed the western part of the development area had been significantly truncated during the construction of the Fenton Lode/Twenty Foot Drain. On the west side of the drain, features were limited to machine cut trenches and field drains related to post-medieval/modern agriculture.

Archaeological excavations covering 1.6ha and undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), between 4th November 2013 and 5th February 2014, were commissioned by the University of Cambridge Estates Management and Buildings Service as part of the broader North West Cambridge Development Project. These investigations follow on from those carried out in the first half of 2013 during which Sites II-IV were the object of enquiry. The programme reported here concerns Site V; this adjoins, and is a continuation of, the north extension of Site IV, and as with the overall development footprint has previously undergone trench based evaluation in Fields 109 and 112B (Armour 2008; Evans and Newman 2010).

An archaeological trenched evaluation was undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) on land adjacent to 19 Barford Road, Eynesbury (TL 1847 5907) in advance for a dwelling, garages and associated landscaping. The proposed development area (PDA) compromises 0.11 Ha.

Between 11th-18th June 2014 the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) undertook an archaeological evaluation of land proposed for development at nos. 49 and 51 Coates Road, Eastrea nr. Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. Twelve archaeological evaluation trenches totalling some 116m were dug across an area of about 0.4 hectares. Some 13 archaeological features (mostly pits) were found, at least five of these producing prehistoric pottery dating to the Late Bronze Age - Middle Iron Age. These included the poorly preserved remains of two ovens or pottery kilns, a couple of intercutting rubbish pits, a field ditch, and the possible base of a sub-rectangular SFB, the latter devoid of finds apart from a few sherds of prehistoric pottery. Amongst the most notable finds were sherds from an almost complete large bucket-shaped jar together with a triangular loomweight fragment from one of the ovens or kilns alongside a large part of ths broken clay lining. The current archaeological investigation indicates the probable northerly and westerly continuation of a major Late Bronze Age - Iron Age field system and area of low density settlement area previously encountered on the south side of Coates Road. However, the survival of archaeology in this area would appear to be quite variable, with some of this occurring at quite shallow depths.

Archaeological monitoring of six geotechnical boreholes was undertaken at the Park Street Multi-storey Car Park, Cambridge. Monitoring revealed that within the area of the car park's ground floor level archaeological strata survived beneath the building's foundations. An archaeological sequence between 1.8 and 2.5m in depth was recorded. Beneath a substantial modern levelling deposit, a horizon of Late Medieval/Post-Medieval garden soil was identified, as well as strata which may represent the fills of archaeological features and Late Medieval land reclamation. No surviving archaeological deposits were observed during the monitoring of boreholes within the area of the car park's lower, basement level.

A trench-based evaluation, comprising a single trench covering 13.5sqm, was undertaken within the garden of Chesterton House, Chesterton, Cambridge. This revealed evidence for three phases of activity at the site. The earliest phase consisted of two undated postholes and a pit. As they were relatively substantial in scale, it is possible that the postholes comprised part of a Late Saxon/Saxo-Norman post-built structure. Any additional evidence pertaining to this period was removed during the 17th century, however, when an extensive horizon of gravel quarry pits - extending over 80% of the trench's area - was created. A fine hammer-struck silver half-crown of Charles II was associated with this phase, although a dearth of earlier material culture (even within residual contexts) indicates that occupation is unlikely to have occurred during the intervening Medieval period. Finally, around 1790 the sequence was capped by an extensive made-ground deposit that was associated with the establishment of Chesterton House itself.

This archaeological desk based assessment was commissioned by Savills PLC to assess the potential impact of a proposed development of new postgraduate and additional student accommodation at Newnham College, Cambridge (TL 4410 5770). Evaluation of the archaeological, historical and cartographic evidence shows the PDA to be located within an area of known archaeological finds and features dating from the prehistoric period to the post-Medieval period, with Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon burials found within the college grounds and study area.

A single test pit (c. 2x2m) was excavated by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) in order to evaluate the archaeological potential of the site of a new boathouse extension at Trinity Hall Boathouse, Cambridge (centred on TL 4576 5911). The test pit revealed a deep alluvial sequence (extending to over 4m below the current ground level) capped by a series of dumped soil layers containing 16th-17th and 19th-20th century pottery and presumably representing a process of reclamation and utilisation of this riverside zone during the post-medieval period.