Back Orchard, Bassingbourn: an Archaeological Assessment

Between 27th May and 5th June 1998, staff from the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council carried out an archaeological evaluation at Back Orchard, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire. The work was commissioned by Wimpey Homes in advance of construction of a proposed housing development on the site. A desk-based assessment carried in advance of field evaluation failed to reveal any previously known archaeological interest on the land. Linear trial trenches revealed a small number of archaeological features, mostly ditches and mainly concentrated near the south-western edge of the site. No artefacts were found in any of the features, apart from a single small sherd of possible medieval pottery in a linear feature in trench 3. Some of the archaeological features encountered may result from the site's previous use as an orchard; others, however, probably represent a series of boundaries dividing up various plots of land in the outlying parts of medieval or post-medieval Bassingbourn. In may be, therefore, that the evaluation has indicated the location of the north-eastern limits of the medieval or post-medieval village.