A11 Stump Cross to Four Went Ways Road Improvement Scheme: Romano-British and Undated Features Recorded During Archaeological Evaluation

The Department of transport commissioned Cambridgeshire County Council’s Archaeological Field Unit to undertake an archaeological evaluation in advance of the A11 Stump Cross to Four Went Ways Roan Improvement Scheme. This report considers the last phase of archaeological evaluation, which took place on land between Stump Cross and Hinxton Grange (TL 503/436-511/464). The programme of fieldwork included provision for monitoring visits after the onset of the roadworks, together with a contingency to allow the salvage excavation of hitherto undiscovered remains. The results of the evaluation and monitoring are presented here; a further salvage excavation did take place, and is published separately (Heawood and Robinson forthcoming). The density of archaeological remains recorded was low. Evaluation revealed the presence of four parallel gullies east of Stump Cross. These are probably indicative of multiple phases of a Romano-British field boundary or track way. Ephemeral lough marks recorded nearby might be roughly contemporary. To the north, c 1km from Stump Cross, a ditched aligned north-west lay approximately on the orientation of elements of an adjacent crop mark enclosure, and may be late Iron Age or early Romano-British. Other ditches were parallel to the line of the Roman road, which the A11 here follows, and appeared to be both earlier and later than this feature. One of the later ditches contained a ?third century Roman coin. Immediately north of Stump Cross, a further ditch lying parallel to the A11 may either be contemporary with the Roman road, or a later field boundary. Elsewhere, only a very small number of isolated holes or pits were found. The later monitoring work led to the discovery of a Roman building near Hinxton Grange, apparently standing alone, which became the subject of a further salvage excavation. No other remains of significance were located.