Archaeological Investigations on the Thetford Aqueduct

An archaeological watching brief was commissioned by the Cambridge Water Company in adherence with planning constraints regarding the construction of a new aqueduct between the Cherry Hinton reservoirs and Euston, near Thetford. The course of the pipeline disturbed a swathe of land 25km long and up to 12m wide. It was positioned adjacent to three sites of national importance: An Iron Age settlement at Caudle Corner Farm, Fulbourne (Scheduled Ancient Monument(SAM) Cambs 95); War Ditches, Cherry Hinton (SMR 4963); and Howe Hill (SAM camb 54), a Bronze Age tumulus. In addition, several minor sites and individual find spots ranging in date from the Mesolithic to Medieval periods were known to be adjacent to the route of the pipeline.

In addition, the pipeline crossed a fourth monument of national importance, The Devils Dyke (SAM Camb 5), a massive Anglo-Saxon defensive bank and ditch. This monument required partial excavation which demonstrated that little silting-up of the ditch had occurred since it had fallen out of use.

Apart from the results of the excavations at Devils Dyke few other archaeologically sensitive deposits were detected. The only features identified were two Post-Medieval gullies and an inhumation of uncertain date which had been disturbed by the pipe trench.