Prehistoric and Romano British Remains on Land Adjacent to 28 St Anne's Lane, Godmanchester

Between the 5th of October and the 5th of November 1997 the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council undertook evaluation by means of trial trenching on land adjacent to 28 St Annes Lane, Godmanchester. The work was commissioned by Mr J. Holmes of Gatehouse Estates on behalf of Amblecroft Estates Ltd. in advance of the proposed development of the site for housing with associated gardens and car parking. The evaluation revealed a well preserved sequence of Prehistoric and Romano-British remains surviving to within o.25m of the present ground surface. Whilst the nature and dating of the earlier deposits remains enigmatic Roman activity would seem to be related to the expansion, in terms of area, of the town in the third to fourth centuries AD. Evidence for structures, enclosures, domestic rubbish pits and open areas surfaced with compacted gravel are all present within the development area. The presence of the partially burnt remains of a woman within one of the enclosure ditches may provide further evidence of a major disaster previously interpreted by Green as a massacre during the third century AD. In addition the subject site is located within an area of high potential to examine the late Roman to early Saxon transition. Any subsequent excavation is likely to contribute significant new information to the study of the end of the Roman occupation of this important small town.