Perkins Sports Association Club, Oxney Road, Peterborough

Between the 7th and the 23rd of November 2016, Oxford Archaeology East (OAE) carried out an archaeological excavation at the former site of the Perkins Sports Association Club, Oxney Road, Peterborough (TL 21404 00330), followed by monitoring and recording during ground works in May 2018. The archaeological works were carried out prior to the proposed construction of a car preparation, storage and valeting centre.
The ‘L’-shaped development area was 3.38ha in extent, divided into northern and southern plots separated by a drainage ditch lined by a row of trees. Following the evaluation carried out by OAE (Rees, 2014), an area of approximately 0.15ha within the development area was selected for excavation, with a surrounding 0.5ha being subject to monitoring and recording. This was located in the south-east corner of the northern plot, immediately adjacent to Newark Road and commercial premises to the south (Fig. 1).
The excavation revealed archaeological features dating from the Late Neolithic to the Early Iron Age. The earliest features were a series of Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age pits which produced pottery and flint typical of domestic/settlement type assemblages. These were overlain by a network of field boundary ditches, which clearly relate to the well-known extensive Middle Bronze Age field systems of Fengate. Also uncovered was a group of post holes (tentatively dated to the Middle Bronze Age) a Late Bronze Age watering hole and an Early Iron Age pit.
During the archaeological monitoring and recording no archaeological features were recorded as only the topsoil was machine stripped from the designated area.