Iron Age Settlement and a Roman Vineyard on Land off Hall Drive, Caldecote: An Archaeological Evaluation

An archaeological evaluation of a 2.39ha area was undertaken on land off Hall Drive, Highfields, Caldecote, Cambridgeshire (TL3529/5858). This was carried out in advance of a proposed housing development and in response to a brief from the County Archaeology Office.

Nine trenches were opened and archaeological features were observed in all of them. Medieval furrows were found to continue the pattern seen in neighbouring excavations to the north, and on aerial photographs. A curvilinear ditch was excavated that may be part of an Iron Age roundhouse. A system of parallel ditches bounded by a ditch perpendicular to this system was dated to the early Roman period, and showed great similarity to the Iron Age and Roman field systems and enclosures excavated just to the north of Hall Drive.

Similar Roman agricultural features have been identified on several sites in Cambridgeshire and neighbouring counties. At Woolaston in Northamptonshire, for example, grape pollen provided evidence to support an interpretation that the features may relate to a vineyard. While no evidence like this has been found so far at Caldecote, the closest parallel physically for these features is the arrangement found at Wollaston.