Land East of St Neots, Cambridgeshire

Between the 27th of October and the 8th of December 2003 the Archaeological Field Unit (AFU) of Cambridgeshire County Council undertook the evaluation of seven fields of ploughed arable land covering 51ha, to the east of St Neots. The work was commissioned by CPM Environmental Planning and Design on behalf of JJ Gallagher Ltd. This investigation was carried out following a desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and fieldwalking in order to add to the current level of information available relating to the character, date and possible extent of those archaeological remains present within the proposed development area.

Trial trenching revealed both a greater intensity and more extensive survival of archaeological remains than indicated by the results of either geophysical survey or fieldwalking, providing evidence of a human presence in this area from the Neolithic to modern times.

The southern limit of the site was located on roughly level low lying ground at 20m OD rising gently through the central portion of the area to a level plateaux at 40m OD to the north. The natural topography provides a relatively sheltered, well drained, south-facing location, the physical characteristics of which seem to have informed successive periods of land use, both for settlement and agriculture, from at least as early as the Iron Age to the present day.

By far the most intensive area of activity was concentrated within the south-western quadrant of the proposed development, around the extant farm. It primarily consisted of evidence for late pre-Roman Iron Age (LPRIA) and Roman occupation. In addition traces of a Bronze Age presence (redeposited pottery) and hand made ceramics that may be Early Saxon in date were recovered from within the core of this settlement related activity.

Further evidence for Bronze Age and earlier Iron Age agricultural activity was present within the northern and eastern portions of the development. Mid to Late Iron Age settlement related activity was identified towards the southern boundary of the site. Iron Age and Romano-British activity was revealed along the crest of the south-facing slope which consisted of a series of substantial enclosures, possibly associated with the settlement core down-slope to the south-west.