Bronze Age Cremations and Early Medieval Settlement Remains at Church Street, Langford, Bedfordshire

Between 1st March and 9th April 2021, Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) undertook an archaeological excavation at land to the west of Church Street in Langford, Bedfordshire.
This work revealed a group of four cremation pits, one of which has been radiocarbon dated to the Middle to Late Bronze Age period, along with a series of Saxo-Norman to early high medieval settlement remains. The medieval remains consisted of four distinct phases of boundary ditches, extensively remodelled across a relatively short period of time between the mid-11th to mid-13th centuries. Several discrete postholes and pits also dating to this period were identified, along with the remains of a contemporary, possibly rectangular, post-built structure, which was partially revealed in the north of the site adjacent to a former lane leading from Church Street. An assemblage of high to late medieval metalwork was also recovered from the subsoil, which includes some high-status objects.
The continual reorganisation of the site across the mid-11th to mid-13th centuries is significant, and points towards frequent changes in land use and possibly land ownership during this period. The excavated remains suggest that this shift may have been from an exclusively agricultural focus to an arrangement which integrated both agriculture and domestic occupation.
This settlement activity appears to have been cleared from the site at some point in the early high medieval period. It is possible that this clearance (or the later phases of reorganisation) may coincide with the establishment of the Knights Templar at Langford Rectory, who were gifted 104 acres of land and a series of properties in the village in AD 1142.
The results of this investigation have enriched current understanding of the prehistoric environs of the Lower Ivel Clay Valley and have significantly informed upon the development of settlement in Langford during the medieval period.