Melbourn Substation to Black Peak Farm and Muncey's Farm, Melbourn: Cable Trench

From November 25th 2014 until February 12th 2015, OA East carried out an archaeological watching brief along 5.8km of trenching for an electric cable through Melbourn, Cambridgeshire between Black Peak Farm (TL 4057 4358), Muncey's Farm (TL 3808 4295) and Melbourn Substation (TL 3697 4374). The monitoring was carried out during soil stripping (0.6-1.6m in width) and trenching to place cable duct.
Across the landscape, a number of broad natural hollows were revealed. Most contained buried subsoils, producing a range of datable material up to the post-medieval period but two at Royston Road produced a quantity of Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic worked flint. A shallow Grooved Ware (Late Neolithic) Pit was revealed on the plateau between New Road and Muncey's Farm containing worked flints, pottery and animal bone.
As well as a number of undated features, a Late Iron Age pit containing burnt stones, a possible clay lining and possibly a complete vessel was exposed. Along Royston Road, three ditches, likely of Medieval or earlier date were also recorded. Near Muncey's farm a post-medieval furrow and ditches were recorded. In addition to the hollow/subsoil finds, post-medieval features included postholes between Black Peak Farm and New Road.