Archaeological Investigations of Land Adjacent to Mount Pleasant Farm, Chatteris

The Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council was commissioned to investigate the archaeological potential of land adjacent to the Sixteen Foot Drain TL430/886 which was proposed for the location of a new irrigation reservoir. Three trenches totalling 75m in length within a 0.6 ha area were machine excavated. Archaeological remains are sparse and it the main features are either recent in date or the result of natural phenomena indicating the absence of occupation. The results of the archaeological trenching programme show that the area was beyond the area of prehistoric, Roman and medieval settlement as suggested by the desk-based research. Although the cropmarks suggest that later prehistoric settlement may have occurred very close to the fen edge the evaluation shows that at no point did the settlement extend in to the fens. Further archaeological work is unlikely to be appropriate.