Watersmeet, Mill Common, Huntingdon: An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment

An archaeological desk-based assessment was carried out for Campbell Melhuish and Buchanan in advance of proposals to develop land at Watersmeet, Mill Common, Huntingdon. SMR, excavated, archival, research and documentary sources were studied to identify the archaeological potential of the site. In addition to the normal necessity of providing archaeological context, the degree of more recent destruction through development was deemed a key consideration. The iste was found to lie in a location of key significance during several periods. The riverside position not only represents a favourable location for settlement in a general sense, but the use of this general area as a river crossing from the Roman period onwards, means that the site is likely to contain Roman burials, may have been within a Danish Burh, was certainly within the core of the subsequent Late Saxon town and may also have been within a 'lost' bailey of the Norman Castle. Modern land-use may well have removed remains in several areas including the western end of the site, and a degree of damage may have occurred resulting from the construction of the railway/A14 embankment and through landscaping for the construction of the house 'Watersmeet'.