Evaluation at Walter Gidney Pavilion, Soham, Cambridgeshire

On 23rd and 31st May 2016 Oxford Archaeology East excavated three evaluation trenches on the proposed new road-way and car park at the Walter Gidney Pavilion, Soham, Cambridgeshire (TL 5912 7322).
Several phases of land use were identified in two of the trenches. Possible Romano-British activity was represented by a single ditch in Trench 2. Cess-like material within the ditch fill suggests it was close to or within an area of habitation.
The Romano-British ditch was truncated by two Middle Saxon (c. 650 – 850 AD) ditches, that produced pottery, animal bone, fired clay and shell. A further Middle Saxon ditch was truncated by a Large Middle Saxon pit in Trench 3.
All the archaeological deposits were sealed by a deep buried garden soil (measuring 0.3 – 0.6m thick), attributed to landscaping of the recreation ground in the early 1900s. A 1926 silver six pence was recovered from the buried garden soil.