Archaeological Excavations at 4 White Hart Lane, Soham: PXA and UPD

From the 6th to the 20th of June 2016 Oxford Archaeology East undertook an archaeological excavation on the proposed site of new houses at White Hart Lane, Soham, Cambridgeshire. Iron Age features included the remains of a possible structure, fence lines, pits and a ditch. The presence of Roman features on the site suggested a continuity of activity into this period. Ditches possibly belonging to the Late Saxon phase were also uncovered and as these were perpendicular to those dating to the Iron Age it is thought that a reorganisation of the local landscape occurred at some point during the 1st millennium AD. Medieval ditches, pits and post holes were also found. A further reorganisation of the landscape appears to have taken place during the post-medieval period with ditches respecting the current road layout in the site's immediate vicinity. Overall the stratigraphical, artefactual, environmental and osteological data recovered from this site (on its own) has a limited potential to address research themes. It has greater value when considered in conjunction with adjacent excavation at the old Church Hall site, High Street (Leonard and Woolhouse 2012).