Medieval Toft Development at Fen End, Over, Cambridgeshire

Between the 19th August and the 9th October 2019, Oxford Archaeology East undertook an archaeological excavation at Fen End, Over, Cambridgeshire (TL 3797 7069). This revealed several phases of activity spanning the prehistoric/Roman period through to the post-medieval period, with a focus during the 11th to 14th centuries when a series of boundaries and related features associated with three properties/tofts was established.
The earliest remains comprise a background scatter of residual flint and pottery which hint at a prehistoric (Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age) presence in the vicinity of the site. During the later prehistoric – or most likely the Early Roman – period, a field system was laid out comprising a number of parallel cultivation/planting trenches and associated boundaries. This was followed in the Late Anglo-Saxon period (c. AD850-1066) by small scale activity in the form of a cluster of pits close to the northern edge of the site. The first phase of medieval activity (11th to mid 12th century) was characterised by plot boundary ditches aligned at right angles to Fen End road to the north-west, along with a small D-shaped enclosure and associated ‘backyard’ pits and wells, some of which were quite long-lived. The height of activity was in the late 12th to 13th centuries, which witnessed the reiteration of the toft/croft boundaries, with the addition of several sub-divisions possibly indicating different properties. These back plots contained multiple clusters of pits, several of which produced evidence of domestic waste disposal and cess, with one containing the burial of a beagle-sized dog. The 14th to 15th century saw a phase of decline or contraction, with only a few pits and gullies present, although the main boundary ditches and some of the pits may have continued in use. This situation appears to have endured throughout the post-medieval and modern periods, represented by a pond, rubbish dump, and quarrying activity.
A small assemblage (659 sherds in total) of Late Saxon to modern pottery was recovered, alongside small groups of metalwork, slag, glass, worked stone (quern), ceramic building material and fired clay; reflecting the fairly peripheral and rural/domestic character of the site. Analysis of the environmental and faunal remains suggest both pastoral and arable use of the land, with samples from several features producing evidence for a range of crops. Cattle and pig were the primary animals used for meat, with sheep / goat most probably being used for secondary products such as wool or milk, with the main diet supplemented by fish and shellfish.
This ‘backyard’ activity provides a further example of medieval occupation related to roadside tofts close to the fen edge in what was evidently a polyfocal fenland village. The location of the site would have enabled its inhabitants to exploit the rich resources of the fens, and was well positioned within the landscape in relation to other villages and market towns, such as Cambridge, St Ives and Ely.