Land South of Blackberry Lane, Soham

Between the 22nd and 30th of May 2017, Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) conducted an archaeological evaluation at land south of Blackberry Lane, Soham, Cambridgeshire (centred TL 60614 7237). The evaluation consisted of 21 trenches opened across four fields.
The evaluation revealed archaeological remains spanning the Iron Age to early post-medieval periods. Two main concentrations of features were uncovered. The first was located in the eastern area of the site and comprised a series of ditches and post holes yielding Early Iron Age pottery and animal bone. These remains are interpreted as a focus of settlement-related activity on the chalk, with post holes indicating the likely presence of structures, and ditches suggesting enclosed or partially enclosed elements to the occupation.
The second concentration of features centred upon a possible Early-Middle Saxon Sunken Feature Building revealed in the central western area of the site. The building was associated with a group of pits, post holes and undated ditches, all located in a single trench. The absence of discrete features in surrounding trenches suggesting the core of this settlement lay beyond the site to the west towards the historic centre of Soham.
The evaluation also revealed early post-medieval clunch quarrying and post-medieval gravel extraction strip quarries. There were also undated ditches that may have been part of field systems.
The artefacts recovered from the evaluation included Iron Age, Early-Middle Saxon, medieval and post-medieval pottery. Animal bone, much of which was well preserved, was also recovered from several features.