Iron Age-medieval remains at 8 Market Street, Soham

Between 16th and 24th July 2012 Oxford Archaeology East carried out a small excavation at 8 Market Street, Soham, Cambridgeshire in advance of redevelopment of the site for residential purposes. Three trenches were excavated at the rear of the plot, each measuring 3m2 on the surface. The trenches were machine excavated to a depth of approximately 0.9m, at which point the trench was stepped and a 1.5m2 test pit was hand excavated in the centre of each.
All three trenches contained a preserved Iron Age soil horizon measuring up to 0.5m thick. The soil horizon yielded an assemblage of predominantly Early Iron Age pottery (54 sherds, 574g), although there were a number of Late Bronze Age sherds, later Iron Age sherds and Early Roman sherds, along with a pair of tweezers of possible Roman date. Although there had been a certain level of disturbance within the soil over a long period of time, it is believed this is the remnants of a soil which, according to the datable pottery, began forming during the Late Bronze Age or earlier, and had midden material periodically worked in as soil development continued. Several features truncated the agricultural soil including ditch 111 and pit 132 in trench 2, ditch 120 in trench 3 and at least one posthole. There were several post-medieval features including a wall footing and possible yard surface in trench 1. The rear of the plot had clearly avoided any major modern truncation or disturbance; it had previously been sealed by concrete slabs and before that was back garden plots since at least the late 19th century. Part of an in-situ clunch built wall was visible on the surface and correlates with the eastern side of a small out-building on both the 1st and 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey maps. The site also features on Palmer's 1656 map of Soham. A building which fronts on to Market Street is visible although the majority of the plot including trenches 1-3 are located within the back garden.
This report also integrates the result of a single evaluation trench excavated along the front of the plot in 2004. A gully, possibly Iron Age in date, was the earliest feature. Subsequently a property boundary was defined and re-established in the 12th to 13th centuries by intercutting ditches. Further ditches or large pits were dug at about the same time.