Land North of 52 Chapelfield Road, Guyhirn, Wisbech St Mary, Cambridgeshire

Between the 2nd and 12th of July 2019 OA East undertook a small, three trench evaluation for Grafton Ventures Ltd on land to the north of 52 Chapelfield Road, Guyhirn, Wisbech St Mary, Cambridgeshire. A large pit was partly revealed in the western part of the development area that produced a substantial quantity of fired clay briquetage of forms typical of Romano-British salt production. This pit was probably associated with a wider set of both structural remains to the north and a boundary ditch to the west which produced further assemblages of briquetage and Roman pottery sherds. Taken together, these remains strongly suggest Romano-British salt making activity in the immediate vicinity. Roman activity appeared to have extended into the eastern part of the site where a further ditch was encountered which produced evidence of foodstuffs and further pottery sherds suggestive of domestic occupation. These remains were truncated by a later series of three parallel boundary ditches, which shared an alignment with the current field boundaries surrounding the site.