Excavations at Bran Ditch, 1993: An Interim Report

During August 1993, the Archaeological Field unit of Cambridge County Council carried out excavations at the north end of Bran Ditch, in the parish of Fowlmere. It is one of a series of monuments, presumed to date from the Anglo-Saxon period, known as the Cambridgeshire Dykes.

Excavation revealed a profile for Bran Ditch that was 6m wide and 1.8m deep from the surface of natural chalk. It showed an initial period of rapid weathering of the sides after which it may have been partially cleaned out. A stable profile soon after became established. The remains of the bank were found on the north-eastern side of the ditch. It consisted of a layer of redeposited chalk rubble, 0.13m thick and 9.3m wide, with a berm of about 1.5m. A trench, filled with chalk packing stones, showed that the bank was revetted or palisaded at the time of its construction, presumably to prevent chalk rubble falling back into the trench. An unidentified and undated circular feature, with inwardly inclined post holes within its perimeter, was excavated on the south-western side of the Ditch.

The bank material sealed a buried soil, the upper part of which contained Iron Age and Roman Pottery as well as charred grain, indicating cereal production or processing, probably within the Roman period. in the lower part were found substantial numbers of Mesolithic or early Neolithic, struck flint flakes. The freshness of the flint suggests that tool production was carried out here. An enclosure ditch, previously identified from aerial photographs, was investigated and proved to date from the Iron Age.