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The area around Peterborough Station has been examined in terms of the impact proposed development may have on any archaeological remains within the site. While occasional chance finds of prehistoric date have occurred within the environs of the site, the main potential lies with Roman and Medieval remains. A Roman settlement was excavated to the north and Roman burials have been recovered several times this century in the southwestern part of the site. In addition, a Medieval Hospital and Tithe Barn are known to have existed within the proposed development area and their remains and any associated features may still survive beneath the present buildings.

A desk based assessment was carried out for Westbury Farm, Great Offley and the surrounding area. Records are very scarce for the prehistoric period, and whilst the area in general has a high potential, no specific statement could be made about the site in particular.
The settlement of Offley has a long history, perhaps as far back as Offa, after whom it may have been named. At Domesday Westbury was the largest of four manors in the arisint The hose haets and orhet site uoy si seti shoetdni ranie ane jar b u i l d i n i . T h s i my r a l e l o h t a n e o - b e s u p p e r , t h o u o s t r u s t e d r o u g e r the village in the late 18th or early 19th century, cutting across the Westbury complex.

A desk based assessment was carried out on the plot in Chesterton occupied by 'Meadowcroft' and a former Methodist Chapel, both now converted to office use. Very little data is available for earlier periods in the vicinity but there is good documentary evidence, supported by recent archaeological findings, that Chesterton was a thriving settlement from at least Domesday onwards. The 'Meadowcroft' plot seems to have lain just outside the main area of medieval settlement activity, though it is possible that ancillary aspects of the priory Grange, located less than 100m away, extend into the area. 'Meadowcroft' itself was built around 1900, the chapel in 1904.

A desk based assessment was carried out for the area of St. Catharine's College designated for redevelopment as a lecture theatre. The current use is for parking with a below ground cycle park. This basement level is 2.5m below current ground level. The site lies in an important area of the town, between the river and the main route into the city. Finds are recorded nearby from the Roman, Saxon and medieval periods. A Carmelite priory was founded in 1290 on the opposite side of old Milne Street from the St. Catharine's site, itself founded in 1475. Comparison with nearby borehole records suggests that despite the reduction in the basement, the height of surrounding natural is such that it is quite possible that archaeology could survive.

Trenching evaluation on the site of the new Unilever Cambridge Centre, Union Road, revealed evidence of low level activity on the site from at least the Roman period. Two Roman features were found with pottery dating from the late 1s t to the late 3r d centuries. These were interpreted as being part of the extensive rural hinterland around the main Roman town to the north. Subsequently the area became part of the Cambridge East Fields, and there is evidence of an extended period of agricultural use through the medieval period (with a slight indication of remnant ridge and furrow) followed by more intensive utilisation in the post-medieval period. Following Inclosure in 1807 this part of Cambridge was rapidly built up. The later features found in the trenches matched closely with the building layout on the 1888 OS map, allowing positive identification of Nos. 1-4, Union Road, all of which were demolished by the mid 1970s.

The study shows that while no archaeology is recorded from the site itself it lies in a rich landscape with remains from the Mesolithic period onwards. Extensive Roman remains lie to the north (SAM255, a Roman villa) and prehistoric material is recorded from all around the vicinity. Excavations 100m to the east found a large ditch, of probably Roman or Saxon date. Whilst this will not extend into Heathfields 2, it does indicate that significant features extend beyond the area suggested by aerial photographs. The site was formerly within the bounds of the Duxford airfield and itis possible that unrecorded military remains exist. A large concrete pillbox still stands in the south west corner of the site.

Desktop assessment of the archaeological potential of the proposed redevelopment site found no direct evidence from the site itself, but important indications, mainly from the Roman period, of activity in the immediately surrounding area. The lack of data from the site is at least partly due to its history which gave little opportunity for finds to be made. Probably agricultural land from the Roman period onwards, the house and gardens of the Grade II listed building Brookland House were built around 1830, following which little was altered until the requisition of the site by the Government during the Second World War. With the exception of the double-storey Seat of Regional Government bunker in the southwest corner (constructed 1952-53) ground disturbance has been minimal, with many of the Brookland House garden features still extant. The site is within 400m of the main southern Roman road into Cambridge and features of that date are considered the most likely to be encountered.

A desk based assessment was carried out on the area formerly known as Gravel Hill Farm, now largely occupied by parts of University Farm and University buildings. The study identified six findspots within the site boundary ranging in date from Palaeolithic flints to a Second World War pillbox. The area around the site has a long history of archaeological finds, mostly flints from quarrying and Coprolite extraction in the vicinity, but also includes Roman burials in coffins, Roman cremations and an Anglo-Saxon inhumation. The site has the potential to provide important information particularly about Roman and medieval land-use immediately outside the town, and may be able to cast light on the question of Roman Road alignment on the town approach. Survival between mineral extraction zones, however, may be intermittent.

The third stage of archaeological excavation has been completed at Broom Quarry on behalf of Tarmac Quarry Products (Central) Ltd. The assessment area comprised 22.5 hectares. The excavations were conducted by a team from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit in October/ November of 1998. Unlike previous phases where the excavations could be centred on known areas of activity (as recognised from aerial photography and / or previous trial trenching) the current phase of fieldwork had a single objective: to prospect for unknown sites and / or activity areas by using systematic trenching.

This assessment reports the results of archaeological researches in advance of the proposed development of the parcel of land bounded to the north and west by the A505 and the southbound slip road at Junction 10 of the Mil (TL 4500 4400). The work involved a reassessment of aerial photographs, an examination of the county Sites and Monuments Record (S.M.R.) and a literature survey covering relevant reports produced throughout the last decade. An assessment of the maps held by the Cambridge Record Office showed the proposed development area as open fields. An "old gravel pit" was marked at Chuck-a-Bush and a guide post is indicated at the junction of the A505 and Hunt's Road.

Archaeological evaluation was undertaken between the 14t h and 24t h June 1999 on 1.134 hectares of land at Westbury Farm, Offley, Hertfordshire (TL 1415 2710). The work was carried out by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), on behalf of Ashtenne Residential, in advance of a proposed housing development including the construction of three houses and the conversion of existing barns into a further six dwellings. The evaluation was conducted in accordance with a brief issued by North Hertfordshire District Council Museums Field Archaeology Section, and followed a desktop assessment and preliminary buildings survey The earliest phase of activity on the site is datable to the 12t h century with a possible ditched enclosure seen in Trenches 4 and 5. Features seen in Trench 11 provide evidence that there was settlement here by the 13t h century. Ditch(es) probably mark an earlier boundary to Westbury Farm along the School Lane frontage, with which they are aligned. The early features are confined to the outer parts of the site, the interior having been severely truncated by later phases of activity. The presence of Roman tile incorporated into the Medieval and Post Medieval features indicates there may well have been Roman activity in the vicinity of the site but no actual features of Roman date were found.

Excavation in advance of a re-routed pipeline, near Over, Cambridgeshire, enabled additional sightings of parts of a Middle Bronze Age fieldsystem originally identified in advance of large scale gravel extraction immediately to the east. Located towards the junction between the River Ouse and Over Fen, the pipeline's new route also ran close to the southern Over barrow group bringing the relationship between the monuments and fieldsystem closer into view. In traversing an important wetland prehistoric landscape the pipeline also encountered some occupation evidence - consisting mainly of small postholes and pits - although the feature/finds densities were not substantial.. Surprisingly, where the pipeline ran close to a known settlement the area was found to be blank, with modern agriculture accounting for an unexpected degree of truncation. Further elements of the palaeo-topography were mapped including a previously unrecorded relict stream channel. In the vicinity of the barrow group and high within the thick alluvial cover a series of large ditches were recorded on similar alignments to the Bronze Age field ditches.