Summary of Archaeological Evaluation at Woodston Hill, Oundle Road, Peterborough

Between the 22nd to 25th February 2000, the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council (AFU) carried out an archaeological evaluation on land once occupied by the British Sugar processing plant, Peterborough (TL 178 975). The work was undertaken at the request of Stirling Maynard and Partners on behalf of British Sugar. This follows earlier limited field evaluations and monitoring undertaken in areas B and C by the AFU in 1998 (Kenney 1998). The site has revealed evidence of occupation on a gravel rise presently close to the Oundle Road known as Woodston Hill (Area A). The structural features identified in Area A are presently of an indeterminate date. In order to answer the basic questions of age and function of the site it would be necessary to increase the area exposed through widening the existing excavation area. The opportunities for data recovery in the artefactual evidence would be greatly increased by such work and the structures associated with a settlement could be more accurately defined, providing that they have not been entirely removed by the gas mains.