Land North of Sandpit Pond Farm, Longstanton Road, Over, Cambridgeshire

Between late July 2020 and early October 2020, Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) carried out archaeological excavations at land north of Sandpit Pond Farm, Longstanton Road, Over Cambridgeshire (TL 3778 6975). A total of 0.53ha was excavated in advance of residential development, targeting predominantly medieval remains revealed by a previous evaluation. Although archaeological features spanning the late prehistoric to modern periods were present across the area, the densest activity appears to have been concentrated at the northern end of the site close to Whine’s Lane.
Despite a background scatter of earlier prehistoric flintwork, the earliest evidence for occupation on the site dates from the Late Bronze Age and comprises a boundary ditch and several clusters of deep pits, some of which may have been wells or watering holes. Associated with these was a notable assemble of Post Deverel-Rimbury Plainware pottery and evidence for bronze working including fragments of clay mould possibly for casting a bar or ingot.
Whilst there is some slight evidence of activity during the Late Saxon period, occupation at the site seems to have been fully-established in the 12th century. A series of boundary ditches and small enclosures probably delineating plots / properties or different areas of activity were laid out extending southwards from Whine’s Lane, some of which were retained or recut during the high medieval and late medieval phases. These are likely to have been the ‘backplots’ for properties (located closer to the frontage), where evidence for quarrying, pit digging/rubbish disposal, agricultural and industrial activities was revealed. Iron working appears to have been undertaken, probably in the more easterly part of the site, represented by smithing hearth waste distributed within the backfills of numerous pits and ditches. The fairly substantial medieval pottery assemblage is one of the largest to have been excavated in Over and will be a useful comparator with the assemblage from Fen End, a similar contemporary site recently investigated on the north-eastern edge of the village.
During the 15th century activity at the site was in decline and by the later post-medieval period this area appears to have been largely given over to pasture with episodes of periodic flooding indicated by areas of alluvial deposits.