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An archaeological watching brief, was carried out in early July 1999 over two fields adjacent to the linear (possibly Medieval) earthwork which defines the current and historical boundary between the Boxworth and Childerley estates, west of Cambridge. The work involved monitoring topsoil stripping of an 8m easement (Figure 1) for the Cambourne Rising Main pipeline. In the northernmost field a small fragment from the rim of a 13th century ceramic bowl was recovered close to a small undefined spread of burnt clay and charcoal (Figure 2). No other finds or features were found in this field. Throughout the whole area no features associated with the earthwork were identified. The southernmost field slopes from 64m OD in the north and 64.5m OD in the south to a near central depression at 62.0m OD adjacent to and west of Wood Walk Spinney. This depression defines the location of a former pond, backfilled by the farmer in 1963/4 (Figure 2). Approximately 30m south of the pond machining uncovered the purported remains of a brick or tile kiln. Managed woodland and water in the area, the natural brickearth resource and the proximity of the brick-built Childerley Hall, suggests an agro-industrial complex producing wicker for the estate and bricks/tiles perhaps for a particular phase of building at the Hall. The complex transgresses the historical estate boundary raising issues of past land ownership and boundary change and the discovery of the kiln and former pond offers a reinterpretation of the embanked pond (SMR No.03611) forming the western square-shaped section of Wood Walk Spinney.

The Cambridge Archaeological Unit carried out a trenching evaluation in the footprint of a proposed substation (Number 1) for Hanson Brick at Bradley Fen, Whittlesey, on the 16th July 1999. No archaeological features were recorded within the evaluation area. The evaluation established that a 'buried soil' exists in this area. The presence of artefacts of prehistoric characteristics and the evidence of the Roman jar base suggests a Roman and prehistoric presence in the vicinity.

An archaeological evaluation was conducted on land at Heathfield, Thriplow and Whittlesford (Heathfields 2), centred on NGR TL4541 4599. Twelve trenches were machine excavated over the 2.79ha area of the investigation. Evidence for early Neolithic activity was discovered throughout the northern part of the evaluation area but only survived, with the exception of Trench H, as a flint distribution in the plough-soil. These flint scatters represent the remains of workshop areas during the early Neolithic where nodules of raw material underwent initial reduction and where cores and flake and blade blanks were produced for future use. It would appear, from the evidence recovered from Trench H, that natural fissures in the chalk were worked during the later Mesolithic period to extract flint. These geological fissures were places where good quality flint existed as visible outcrops and so as known places in the landscape for flint extraction. There was evidence for flint knapping in the hollow which had subsequently ben enlarged through digging for flint nodules and several micro-burins were recovered from the fill. This area was visited during the early Neolithic when small-scale flint-mining was carried out. A small shaft or pit was cut into the chalk to get directly at a new source of flint, the pit had a bell or boot shape profile to allow for the greatest number of flint nodules to be extracted from the pit. It is also likely that due to small-scale flint-mining the early Neolithic knapping floors are at ground surface around the lip of the feature as there was no room to work the flint nodules within the small shafts or pits and so the flint was brought to the surface in an unmodified state. There was also evidence for food having been cooked and hearths having been kept around this source of flint. A ditch was revealed and excavated in Trench I which during the Medieval period probably marked the area of common land amongst the small sub-divided fields of Thriplow Parish.

Planning permission has been granted for construction of a link corridor between two buildings of the King's School, Ely, to improve boarding accommodation. Cambridgeshire County Council Development Control Office required that the initial stages of construction were archaeologically monitored to fulfil a condition placed on the planning consent. This document is a report of observations made during the stripping of the area and the digging of three footings for walls that will be built as part of the link corridor. The stripped area did not cut deep enough to affect any archaeological features that may have been there. The positioning of the footings was such that they only encountered relatively recent deposits. No significant archaeological deposits were observed.

A programme of archaeological work took place at the former Sargeants Garage site (TL4618 5986) in advance of the construction of a block of flats. The excavation was of an area approximately 0.61 hectares at the junction of Union Lane and the High Street, Chesterton. The site had previously accommodated 19th century Almshouses that probably replaced earlier Almshouses on the same plot. The site had been truncated by later construction, particularly of garage buildings, and only deep cut features survived. Both the Union Lane and High Street frontages, much damaged by later activity both on the site, and on the Union Lane side by road widening, were beyond the area of excavation and very little structural evidence was found within the excavated area. Residual Roman, Saxon and 10th-11th century pottery was recovered indicating earlier activity in the immediate vicinity, but the earliest excavated features comprised a system of boundary ditches and other backyard activity dated to the 12th century. The ditches probably defined property plots running back from the Union Lane frontage. The majority of excavated features were later and comprised pits backfilled with waste material, but originally dug for a variety of purposes, including gravel extraction, drawing water, sewage and rubbish disposal. Of particular note was the 15th century clunch and chalk built well, in the base of which was found a silver groat of Henry V or VI. This report summarises the work that has been carried out at this site and on the material recovered from it.

As part of planning consent for alteration works in the kitchens of Peterhouse College, archaeological observation was required of any associated groundworks. This document is a record of observations made at the site in July 1999. An earlier building, or a part thereof, seems to be represented by the clunch terminus standing in the area of the modern kitchen block. It is a strong possibility that the floor surfaces encountered are associated with this earlier building. This being so, the structure was in use long enough to have been re-floored at least five times, prior to falling into disuse and accumulating mixed debris above the floors. During this period of disuse the area was used for middening activity, something usually associated with the exterior of buildings, and therefore the early building has probably been demolished by this point. The middening may be contemporary with the construction of the 15th century wall, or at least the use of the building of which it is a part. It is possible that the 15th century wall is then a rebuild of the earlier wall, which had the effect of shortening the building slightly. The termination of the floor layers observed in the lift shaft may represent the point at which they abutted the continuation of this wall, subsequently robbed out. Although the gable end of the 1300 hall is approximately 15m to the east, this wall could represent a further 14th century addition.

This desktop study has been commissioned by Gifford and Partners Ltd on behalf of Swayfields Ltd., to assess the archaeological potential of the development area (centred TL 235 366) and the surrounding study area. This report is written in response to the Revised Brief for Archaeological Evaluation. This development site is situated within an area of North Hertfordshire which is recognised as particularly important for the remains of settlements, cemeteries, field systems and ritual monuments of the Prehistoric and Roman periods. Although the documentary sources have revealed no known archaeological features within the development site, there still remains the potential for archaeological discoveries as the staged evaluation progresses.

A proposal has been made to redevelop land around Holwood House and Holwood Park in the London Borough of Bromley, site centre c. TQ421 6366. An archaeological review has been commissioned to examine the impact of the proposed development on the archaeological record. Archaeological remains of several past periods are recorded from the site and other such remains should be anticipated. The potential of the site is high for the Mesolithic, Iron Age and Roman periods, moderate for the Medieval and early Post- medieval and low for the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Saxon periods. The site includes a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the Iron Age hillfort known as Caesar's or Holwood Camp (LO101). The camp has been considered an important one from the earliest references, although this did not prevent extensive damage to the parts of ramparts during extensive landscaping work in the eighteenth century. Intermittent campaigns of archaeological investigation on the camp, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, have confirmed some details of date and form and suggest that it is only one element, if the major one, of a much more extensive Iron Age system of land division and control. There is evidence for Roman activity and occupation in and around the hillfort, including a cemetery and possible farmstead. Extensive Roman remains are known from the general Holwood and Keston area. Later activity on the site includes a well preserved medieval tile kiln, largely excavated in the 1970s, still on view south of the Redwood Building. Recent survey has suggested the presence of possible structures and field systems on the eastern side of the hillfort (beyond the application area) which may be of a similar period to the kiln. Landscaping by successive owners in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries means that the hillfort no longer has a complete circuit visible on the ground, though modern archaeological techniques may be able to trace it. The site of the earlier house, demolished to construct the standing building, may also be identifiable using similar techniques. In summary, Holwood lies within a rich archaeological and historically important landscape with known surviving evidence of several periods.

This fieldwalking study has been commissioned by Gifford and Partners Ltd on behalf of Swayfields Ltd., to assess the archaeological potential of the development area (centred TL 235 366). This report is written in response to the Revised Brief for Archaeological Evaluation, prepared by Mr G. Burleigh, Keeper of Field Archaeology for North Hertfordshire District Council. Only the worked flint distribution would appear to warrant further comment. In the absence of greater contextual control, it is difficult to assign precise ages to any of the recovered material, although a palimpsest ranging from the Earlier Neolithic through to the Bronze Age seems fairly uncontroversial. This conclusion is in accord with other surveys of the Cambridgeshire/Hertfordshire chalkland, where long term prehistoric land-use has been documented.

Preliminary archaeological evaluation trenching within the grounds of Holwood House, on behalf of the Crest Nicholson Group, has traced part of the southern defences of the Iron Age hillfort. The position of the outer ditch and counterscarp bank along this part of its circuit was revealed to be located outside the current Scheduled Ancient Monument perimeter but exactly where indicated by a 1790 survey. During the investigations, the opportunity was taken to excavate a small section across the outer ditch-line with a view to retrieving new environmental samples from its basal deposits. Whilst offering an excellent opportunity to examine the hillfort's primary environmental setting, the sampling strategy may also offer up an interesting comparison with the pioneering environmental archaeology carried out in the late 50's by Nancy Piercy-Fox and colleagues elsewhere around the hillfort's circuit. Further south another small ditch, containing small abraded pieces of Iron Age pot and occasional pieces of burnt flint, was identified and found to be of the same alignment as the southern boundary of the hillfort. Its location, north-east of the Redwood Building, places the ditch in the vicinity of an Iron Age ditch spotted in 1979 when the same building was under construction, although that is reported as much greater in size. Otherwise, the majority of the trenching programme produced no significant archaeological deposits indicating that much of the investigated area is not archaeologically sensitive.

Trench-based evaluation within three fields on the western edge of the city of Ely produced archaeological evidence dating to the Late Bronze Age, Late Iron Age and Early Roman periods. A silted-up natural hollow with a possible well cut into the base, containing waterlogged Bronze Age deposits, and associated with pits backfilled with burnt flint, was the focus of the earlier occupation. The Iron Age/Roman phase was characterised by ditches, pits and postholes which, though relatively dispersed and confined to the western edge of the evaluation area, contained substantial pottery assemblages suggesting that they were settlement-related.

In the second phase of evaluation, evidence for Later Bronze Age settlement and boundary works was recovered in a zone from the south-west to the north-east of the development site. These features, as settlement evidence, were of a very ephemeral nature and were often dispersed over large distances. However, cooking pits, pits and post-holes were recovered from the evaluation trenches. The archaeological remains appeared to be restricted to an area by boundary works. This boundary took the form of a fluid ditch line that had perhaps cut around focal points within the landscape. The curvilinear ditch seemed to represent a different kind of boundary to the pit alignment from the first phase excavations, in that it seemed to have been constructed as an act of enclosure. This act of construction may have been the closing point in the redefinition of a settled landscape that had been by nature more open and less densely occupied during the Later Bronze Age.