Granhams Farm Golf Course Neolithic to Medieval: the Archaeological Landscape Surrounding Granhams Farm, from Nine Wells to Hinton Way, Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire

Between the 23rd August and the 8th October 1999, the Archaeological Field Unit (AFU) of Cambridgeshire County Council undertook evaluation by means of a desk-based study and trial trenching on land surrounding Granhams Farm, Great Shelford, Cambridge. The work was commissioned as a preliminary step in the formulation of an environmental impact statement in advance of a planning application for the development of the site as a new golf course. The evaluation revealed the presence of archaeological remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Romano-British, Medieval and Post-Medieval periods. Significant discoveries include a Neolithic shaft, bronze Age ring-ditch, Iron Age roundhouse, late Iron Age cremation with imported pottery vessels from Gaul, a previously unknown late Romano-British settlement of c. 3rd-4th century date and well preserved remains of the Medieval settlement associated with and adjacent to Granhams Manor. In addition a significant pattern of continuity of alignment and layout of ditched boundaries and field systems across the area was indicated. The large scale of this evaluation therefore illustrates the potential of the archaeological remains preserved within the development area to address a number of current research issues, in particular the origins and development of the local landscape.