Medieval to Post-Medieval Settlement, Routeways and Earthworks at Hamerton Sewage Pumping Station

The site sits within the shrunken medieval village of Hamerton, Cambridgeshire, 13km northwest of Huntingdon (TL 1365 7985). Alconbury Brook runs through the village with medieval and post-medieval earthworks of closes, ridge and furrow and quarrying surrounding the brook.
An initial 8m evaluation trench in August 2015 uncovered archaeological remains immediately below the turf. Finds spanned the Roman to modern periods from within a 12th century ditch, a Medieval soil layer and a demolition layer associated with stone footings of a 17th century building.
Broader excavation followed, covering the footprint of the proposed Anglian Water pumping station, approximately 16m by 8m in area. Environment Agency LIDAR data was examined to place the site and related earthworks in context.
The 12th century ditch crossed the site west to east, parallel with the road to the north. Later development of the site saw the construction of a post-built structure with a clay floor overlying the filled in ditch. From the thirteenth century, the site was turned over to agriculture and a soil layer built up.
By the 17th century (and potentially much earlier) a north to south hollow way had been cut through the east of the site, truncating the earlier layers and features. This was lined with cobbles and a terrace of structures represented by surviving stone footings was built alongside it. The terrace and hollow way continued southwards as an earthwork, extending towards an old ford across the Alconbury Brook, disused in the 20th century.
A rich finds assemblage was recovered from the demolition layers overlying the 17th century structures including a variety of knives, scissors and whet stones and a collection of pottery of relatively high status for a rural settlement. Evidence for metalworking came in the form of hammerscale and a small quantity of slag.
The terrace of buildings was evidently demolished in the later 17th century. From the earliest detailed maps of the 19th century, the site has been under pasture.