Clay Farm Rising Main Sewer, Cambridge

During October 2012 Oxford Archaeology East was commissioned by Anglian Water to carry out archaeological excavation and monitoring on the installation of a rising main sewer by directional drill between the pumping station at Clay Farm and the main sewer on Babraham Road, Cambridge, centred at TL 46582 54681. The work was carried out in two stages. Firstly, excavation took place within a continuous trench measuring 480m in length and 8m wide (Area A), which was machine stripped prior to the installation of the sewer. Secondly, a series of test-pits (1 – 8) were monitored along the eastern part of the sewer, where topsoil was to remain intact. The test pits related to the locations of the drill pits.
The western part of the sewer route, within Area A, passed through an area of known cropmarks. A number of ditches, postholes and pits were discovered which correlate with the cropmarks. All the features were undated making it difficult to assign them a specific period. Given the dating of some of the closest field systems a Late Iron Age or Roman date is most likely although a Middle Bronze Age date cannot be ruled out. Only one noteworthy feature was uncovered outside Area A; a ditch in Test Pit 5, also undated. Considering the density of settlement and occupation in the surrounding landscape, the excavation and monitoring produced low level archaeological remains.