Library

An on-going watching brief of building excavations beneath an area of new wall being undertaken at nos. 34-38 Newnham Road during February 2006 provided further evidence of the nature and extent of a medieval pond in the backyard, whilst at the level of a mid-late 18th century �cellar� (beneath no.36a) building excavations had exposed the foundations for what were in all probability a series of 17th century tenements fronting Newnham Road (Newnham High Street). An archaeological test pit revealed a still earlier floor surface underlying the levelling/make-up layers for these brick buildings which might relate to a 16th century or earlier timbered house. Below this a layer of garden soil containing sherds of 15th century coarseware suggested a still earlier phase of intensive backyard cultivation, perhaps associated with medieval dwellings on Maltings Lane (Froshlake Way) or Elde Newenham Weye (Newnham Road). Behind this area of garden, the large pond (up to 2.5 m deep) may originally have been excavated as a gravel pit, then flooded and used as a fishpond, perhaps associated with the nearby Mortimer�s (Newnham) Mill, or the fishponds adjacent to the mill dam leased by St. John�s Hospital. Evidence for some sort of sophisticated water management here has turned up in the form of (lain?) sections of probable 15th century (Ely Ware) ceramic water pipe � a potentially important find. In addition, some well preserved but probably broken and therefore discarded fragments of a ?15th century leather shoe were recovered from the base of the pond.

The extraction area is located at Bradley Fen, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire (centred at NGR TL 235978). The designated extraction is divided into four phases, the last has already been worked for sand and gravel. This assessment report is concerned with Phases 1-3 and an additional area known as the Silt Lagoon which was added to the investigation area during the project. The work was conducted in the main in three parts with Phases 1 and the silt lagoon being excavated in 2001, Phase 2 in 2003 and Phase 3 (Bradley Fen Farm) being excavated in 2004. Limited watching briefs (phase 2) occurred between these two main excavation events but did not reveal archaeology. This area is c. 24 hectares in size and is located on the western margins of Whittlesey island, lies on land which gently slopes away to the west and south, with the lowest areas near the line of the King's Dyke.

This report is an assessment of the results of an archaeological excavation of land off Fengate Road, Fengate, Peterborough, commissioned by Elliott Group, and carried out by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit between May 2005 and August 2005. The site was located on the eastern edge of Peterborough (centred TL 2162 9868) and comprised two main excavation areas. The excavation confirmed and added to the results of an evaluation carried out by BUFAU in 1998 (Cuttler 1998). The Bronze Age Fengate field system was exposed as predicted, in addition, evidence for earlier Neolithic and later Bronze Age through to Iron Age activity was also identified at the site. The earliest archaeological activity was in the form of tree throws clustered in the south west, which contained Late Mesolithic/earlier Neolithic material. Yet it was evidence for Bronze Age activity that dominated the site; a northwest-southeast droveway with occasional, fragmentary associated banks, extended across the length of the excavation areas. The droveway had continued into, and been previously identified at the Storey�s Bar Road excavations. The droveway cut existing pits and comprised a series of comparatively complex ditch re-cuts and junctions along its length; whilst additional ditches joined the droveway at right angles in the north-western part of the site, bounding areas and forming potential paddocks. Later pits cut the ditches once they had silted up; whilst further evidence for Late Bronze Age activity was identified within the boundaries of the droveway and in the form of a round house. Several degraded later Bronze Age metalled surfaces were also exposed both at the edge of the site and in the middle of the droveway. Finally, the edge of the Iron Age and Romano-British settlements, previously identified at Cat�s Water (Pryor 1984) to the northeast, were exposed continuing into the Elliott site.

This study has been commissioned by the King�s School, Ely, as part of a broader consideration of potential development on the Barton Farm site. Two issues are of principal interest: firstly the proposed location of a new educational centre on the Barton Road side of the site, close to the former Theological College building; secondly the broader site in more general terms contributing to a wider discussion on the potential for future, as yet unformulated, development. The objective of this study is to examine the probability of archaeological or historical remains occurring within the site and the likely effect of redevelopment upon any such remains. The study sets the findings in the context of the area, and considers appropriate action based on the findings.

An archaeological evaluation and watching brief of hand-dug geotechnical holes was carried out on the site of the CB1 development. The only archaeological features observed were probably Roman quarry pits adjacent to Hills Road. The project enabled the continued mapping of areas of archaeological survival and zones of truncation begun during a previous phase of watching brief.

Archaeological excavation and test-pitting carried out at Rickett Field revealed scatters of Mesolithic-Early Bronze Age worked flint but few definable prehistoric features other than a single Early Iron Age pit containing knapped flint and 24 sherds of pottery. Evidence for Romano-British activity was also slight; no features were located although six abraded sherds were recovered from the fills of later features and from the buried land surface, suggesting at the most, an area of pasture or only minor cultivation during the Roman period. One probable Medieval ditch associated with a field system and blocks of ridge and furrow was identified, alongside a number of post-medieval field boundaries and the tree-planting holes for a mid-late 17th century tree-lined avenue, probably that of Walnut Tree Walk shown on the 1716 map of Abington Hall and its estate.

An archaeological evaluation was conducted on land at Westfield Farm, St Johns Road, Ely and 18 archaeological trenches were excavated across an area of proposed housing (planning ref: E/06/00174/FUM). Trenches 1-10 to the north of Westfield Farm did not locate any archaeological remains. In the triangle of land to the south of the Farm, human remains were discovered in Trench 13 at shallow depth, and a further five trenches and open areas were excavated in order to define the remains of a small Anglo-Saxon cemetery tentatively dated to the late seventh century.

From 14th November 2005 until 9th January 2006 and between 6th February and 7th March 2006, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit carried out an archaeological excavation on land adjacent to 68 Castle Street, prior to housing development by Ashwell�s Property Group. An archaeological evaluation had previously been carried out by Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust (HAT) in 2001 (Crank and Murray 2001). The research issues addressed by the present excavations were twofold. First, the possibility that the outer bailey of the Medieval Castle ran through the site was to be explored, and, if so, its date of construction as well as later history and infilling determined. Second, given the site�s central location within the 4th century Roman town, the character of the Roman settlement was to be determined, with particular attention for the exact location of the Via Devana, the main E-W Roman road.

On 24th and 25th August 2006 the Cambridge Archaeological Unit carried out an archaeological evaluation at the Clare College Memorial Court Site (Ashby Drive) adjacent to the University Library, Cambridge. The evaluation preceded the proposed building works for New Court at Ashby Drive, and was carried out in order to assess the survival and preservation of any potential archaeological features within the proposed development area. The work was monitored by a Planning Archaeologist from Cambridgeshire County Council. The site is located immediately adjacent to Burrell�s Walk, and is currently used as car park and location for Clare College laundry buildings and maintenance workshop.

Between 3rd and 14th July 2006 an archaeological excavation was carried out by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) prior to the development of additional student accommodation at St. Edmund�s College, Cambridge. The present excavations formed the fourth stage of archaeological investigations carried out by the CAU prior to the building works, following two evaluation phases in 1996 and in 2005 (Dickens 1996; Ten Harkel 2005), the latter of which ran partially through the present site, and an open area excavation immediately to the west of the present site, completed in April 2005 (Mackay 2006). The excavations were carried out in accordance with a specification of works, and were monitored by the Development Control Office of the Cambridgeshire County Council.

Between January and March 2006, a team form the Cambridge Archaeological Unit conducted an archaeological excavation at land adjacent to Greetham Quarry, Greetham, Rutland (centred SK 930 149). The work was commissioned by Mark G Oldridge on behalf of M. Dickenson Ltd. in advance of the quarry extension. The excavation revealed a narrow swathe of Iron Age occupation, encompassing both open and partially enclosed settlement components. Although a Neolithic and Bronze Age presence was indicated by residual flint work, sustained prehistoric occupation at Greetham only commenced during the latter stages of the Early Iron Age. During this period, a small settlement comprising two single-phase roundhouses and an isolated four-post structure was constructed. The roundhouses were framed by a loosely bounded enclosure to the west, and a long segmented boundary ditch to the east. Together these ditches bisected the development area, creating a narrow corridor of settlement features. A small but important group of plain late Early Iron Age ceramics were recovered from one of the roundhouses, together with a rubbing stone, and a burnt bone weaving comb. During the Middle Iron Age the settlement developed along the foot-print of the earlier boundaries. The western enclosure was re-cut and periodically re-worked, whilst a small new trapezoidal enclosure was constructed on the western end of the former segmented ditch line. This enclosure bounded an area 0.02ha in extent, and was re-worked on at least one occasion. Its function was unclear, though it may have encircled a structure or served as a stock coral. The area around the trapezoidal enclosure became the focus of the Middle Iron Age settlement, with pits in its vicinity yielding an array of objects, some of which appear to have been formally deposited. Finds from these pits included dumps of Scored Ware pottery, a complete rotary quern, a minimum of 11 triangular loomweights, and several complete iron objects, possibly agricultural tools or items of personal adornment. Beyond the enclosure four further discrete pit groups were located, all producing Scored Ware pottery.

This archaeological desk top assessment was requested by Bidwells on behalf of NAPP Pharmaceuticals to assess the likely impact of development of a 7.1ha site centred on TL 466 620 adjacent to the A14 and A10 on the Cambridge Science Park. Evaluation of the archival, aerial and cartographic evidence shows the site to be located in an area with known archaeological significance, with a low probability of archaeological features remaining in situ on site.