St. Peter's Church, Offord D'Arcy Archaeological Recording

During October and November 1995, the Archaeological Field Unit of the Cambridgeshire County Council carried out an archaeological watching brief on behalf of The Church Conservation trust at St. Peter’s Church, Offord D’Arcy (TL 217664), in advance of the construction of a new drainage system which involved the excavation of pipe-trenches and soak-away pits. The excavation of each soak-away pit revealed extensive skeletal evidence of burial. Only three sherds of medieval pottery were recovered during the excavation, all of which came from soak-away, pit B. Unfortunately the pottery could not be given an accurate context due to the disturbed nature of the subsoils, but the date of the pottery conformed with major episodes of church construction. The excavation of the pipe-trenches revealed no evidence of the early church foundations, which may be due to the depth of the pipe-trench being insufficient, or that the earlier church had been totally incorporated into the present building.