Late Roman Activity at Wheatsheaf Road, Woodhurst

Fieldwalking on the line of a Cambridgeshire Water Company pipeline near the village of Woodhurst, Cambridgeshire, revealed a scatter of late Roman pottery about 1km east of the village (TL 329 754). Trial excavations carried out in the area of the scatter after the stripping of the easement exposed a large feature of uncertain function and a linear ditch (Area B2). The relationship between these two features was obscured by later furrows but they appear to be broadly contemporary. Finds including pottery, tile, bone, shell and coins date the activity in this area to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. At the west end of the pipeline, near Woodhurst village (TL 319 759), a number of shallow features, which had not produced a fieldwalking signature, were revealed (Area D). Some of them might be furrows, like those in Area B2, while others seem to represent part of a small ditched enclosure, again of a late Roman date. A small piece of the 4th century silver with a Latin inscription was also discovered in the vicinity of Area D.