Pembroke Farm, Teversham: an Archaeological Evaluation

During September 1995 the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council undertook an earthwork survey and excavated evaluation trenches at Pembroke Farm, Teversham. Work was undertaken on behalf of Pembroke College and their agents Bidwell, Cambridge. The proposed development site was defined as an area of archaeological interest as it lies between two elements of Teversham’s medieval settlement; the village core to the west, and a moated manorial site, known as Manor Farm, to the east. The Royal Commission for Historical Monuments of England suggests that the village had spread as far as Manor Farm by the end of the medieval period thus possibly infilling the High Street frontage (RCHM 1972: 134). Two prehistoric or Roman ditches were discovered in the southern part of the site. These are believed to be field boundaries associated with settlements recorded in the Sites and Monuments Record for Cambridgeshire. Two parallel ditches were found beneath the medieval headland. This suggests that a pre-existing landscape feature, a trackway, was used during the restructuring of the agricultural landscape associated with the development of the medieval open field system. The majority of the field is covered by ridge and furrow, forming two furlongs separated by a headland (Fig. 2). These earthworks are indicative of medieval cultivation and this suggests that the majority of this area was part of an open field prior to enclosure in the late fifteenth century. Saxo-Norman, late medieval, and post-medieval pottery was recovered from the site during this evaluation. Given the presence of Saxo-Norman pottery, the absence of medieval sherds is surprising and may suggest a contraction of the village prior to the late medieval expansion. It is possible that the first recorded farm buildings on this site coincided with enclosure in the late fifteenth century. The earliest documented evidence for buildings on the site dates from 1812, when two buildings existed on the frontage of the High St. Between 1812 and 1815 the main farm buildings were built. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the north-east side of the frontage was removed by quarrying. Prior to 1927 the remaining building on the High St. frontage was demolished. During the 1970s Pembroke Farm was finally demolished to be replaced by temporary huts and buildings used as stabling.