Medieval ridge and furrow at Townsend Way, Folksworth

Archaeological monitoring and evaluation was carried out at Townsend Way, Folksworth by the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council during February and March 1998. The archaeological work was a condition of planning consent granted to Twigden Homes for the construction of housing an approximately two hectares on the outskirts of the village of Folksworth. The site had upstanding ridge and furrow earthworks present. Unfortunately the archaeological work was not undertaken until after the development began. An archaeological recording brief was instigated immediately and the digging of foundation trenches for houses, buildings and services was observed. A narrow strip through the centre of the site had fortuitously survived due to the presence of overhead power lines. This strip was surveyed to provide a sample of the ridge and furrow that had survived on the field until the development began. A 20 metre long trench was excavated in this strip to check for the presence of surviving archaeological deposits or features. Other than the ridge and furrow, no archaeological features were found to have survived, no artefacts of any kind were recovered from either the 20 metre trench or the trenches excavated for the development. It seems likely that the heavy boulder clay on the site was not attractive to occupation.