An Archaeological Evaluation at Sawston, Cambridgeshire, 1993

The first phase of an archaeological evaluation was conducted on 12 hectares of arable land in the parish of Sawston at TL 4717/4948 (figure 1) in December 1992 on the site of an Iron Age hill fort. The work was completed by Cambridgeshire Archaeology on behalf of Countryside Planning and Management representing the client Spicers. The work was required as part of a pre-planning evaluation, with the client proposing expansion of current buildings. The land affected by the development is of significant archaeological importance being the site of an Iron Age hillfort.

During the course of the survey a series of low banks were noted surviving in the field, closely corresponding to features viewed from the air and interpreted as the banks and ditches of the hillfort. An even spread of post medieval debris was noted across the whole field. Apart from a single sherd of abraded medieval pottery recovered by the edge of the existing developed area (figure 2), no finds of antiquity were found.