Iron Age features adjacent to Foxton Brook, Shepreth: An Archaeological Evaluation

In September 1998 the Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit carried out observation and recording of topsoil stripping and evaluation on 2.8ha of land in Shepreth parish, between Shepreth pit and Foxton Brook. An area was stripped of topsoil to establish the depth of surviving remains and to determine the amount of disturbance caused by quarrying and modern agriculture. Six trenches were machine excavated.
The trenches revealed mainly linear features. Several contained material of probable Iron Age/Romano-British date. Other features appear to be either 'geological' or post-medieval. The absence of medieval or post-medieval material suggests this land was not close enough to a contemporary settlement for manuring to have occurred or else the ground was unsuitable for arable agriculture. This is borne out by the nineteenth century Tithe and Enclosure Maps which show part of the site as meadow.