Flood Defences on Land off Whitmore Way, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire: An Archaeological Watching Brief

Between the 15th February and 9th March 2005 the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council conducted an intermittent watching brief on land to the south and east of Whitmore Row, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire (TL 4990/6500) during construction of flood defences. The work was commissioned by The Environment Agency.
The site was adjacent to Waterbeach Abbey, a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM 52) and considered a monument of national importance.
The watching brief identified no medieval features within the excavated areas, implying that the work was outside the area of the medieval abbey. This abbey was abandoned within 50 years of construction due to repeated flooding. The watching brief area was on even lower lying land to the abbey and several modern drainage ditches ran across the site. Three of these drainage ditches were found in the watching brief.