A Possible Saxon Ditch at Steeple Morden Primary School, Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire

An archaeological evaluation was carried out in September 2010 at Steeple Morden Primary School (TL 28538 42531) in advance of the construction of a new pre-school building. The evaluation consisted of a single trench located within the proposed development area, forming an L shape around the existing temporary structure. The trench revealed evidence of a possible track-side or boundary ditch, which may have been established during the Saxon period. If the ditch was part of a track it may have served as an access between the nearby manor house, that once stood to the west of the school, and the church. Alternatively it may have been an early property boundary for a tenement fronting onto Hay Street to the east. At some point in the post-medieval period the boundary was re-established in the form of a clunch wall, constructed after the infilling of the ditch and accumulation of a subsoil layer had occurred.