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Construction of a water supply pipeline in Cambridgeshire provided an opportunity to sample the prehistoric landscape along a transect that crossed several major geological boundaries. This narrow window ran from the Lower Chalk of the ancient peninsula of Isleham, across the heavy low-lying clays of Soham and down into the peat fen of Stuntney and south-east Ely. Within the constraints set by the development, field investigation and subsequent analysis were conducted at several scales. In the initial stage, attention focused on predicted occupation areas (principally at the fen margins), while the intervening landscape — between these areas and known sites — was sampled. Along with palaeoenvironmental data, samples of flint, burnt flint and other materials provided a context within which to explore specific models for interpreting the character of later prehistoric landscape occupation across a diverse set of conditions.

As a consequence of landscape sampling, six significant site areas were designated for archaeological investigation. These were located at the neck of the sand and chalk peninsula of Isleham, extending down its gradually sloping western edge towards the braided palaeochannels of the River Snail. This occupation-rich zone on the chalk contrasted sharply with areas of the fen that showed little evidence of early occupation where crossed by the pipeline. Two of these sites saw more extensive fieldwork funded by English Heritage, and these form the main body of the report.

These different scales and intensities of work in the field are reflected in the structure of the report. The extensive survey and evaluation is dealt with in Chapter 2 and provides a full record of work conducted along the length of the pipeline corridor. Chapter 3 documents the more limited investigations conducted at four of the site areas identified in stage 1. The core of the volume lies in Chapters 4 and 5, which deal with the more substantive records arising from work at Prickwillow Road and around the palaeochannels of the River Snail. Dominated by Early Bronze Age and Earlier Neolithic material respectively, these ‘sites’ add a significant body of information to our understanding of the later prehistoric sequence in the area, data which are set in broader context in Chapter 6.

This report provides the first typology for a group of newly recognised medieval pottery — Ely wares — in a research project conducted by CAM ARC (formerly Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit) and funded by English Heritage. Study of material currently held in excavated assemblages and museum collections has resulted in this fully illustrated vessel type series which spans the mid 12th to the 15th centuries. Much of the material was produced in Ely, 24km to the north of Cambridge, although other probable production centres can now be identified. Related scientific analysis has sought to demonstrate the characteristics and provenance of the material, enhancing understanding of related distribution and trade networks. When combined, the results effectively close a substantial gap in knowledge for the pottery of the Cambridgeshire sub-region, where little substantial publication or synthesis was previously available for the medieval period. This is, however, by no means the definitive work on the subject and future research objectives can now be identified.

A ridgeway in an exposed location on heavy clay soils was not favoured for settlement, except during the Iron Age and Roman period, when a number of farmsteads were established. At this time, a network of drove-ways criss-crossed the area, linking the farmsteads and a number of livestock enclosures.

Four farmsteads were identified, all likely to have followed a mixed pastoral/arable regime, although little ecofactual evidence for arable cultivation was recovered. However, an extensive area of early Roman fields, probably used for arable farming, was identified between Ermine Street and Childerley Gate. These fields systems are notable for their alignment with Ermine Street, contrary to the predominantly NE?SW alignment of the main topographic features in this area. They may indicate that, in the Roman period, the landscape was being structured at more than a purely local level.

The largest of the farmsteads, at Childerley Gate; may have belonged to an imperial estate, with the regularity of its initial layout suggesting that it was planned. Substantially reorganised at the beginning of the 4th century, it may have changed hands, perhaps becoming a veteran settlement. Occupation possibly continued into the 5th century.

Forthcoming

The Historic Field Systems of East Anglia Project was carried out with support from English Heritage’s Monuments Protection Programme. The project formulated a way of analysing the historic landscape in terms of eight basic ‘land types’ that could be further broken down into eighteen sub-types. Of especial significance were common fields and their antithesis, ancient ‘block holdings’ or holdings in severalty (farmsteads surrounded by their own group of fields). This form of analysis was applied to twelve detailed case studies of historic land use that were carried out across the region: three in Norfolk, four in Suffolk, three in Essex and one each in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. In each place the landscape was categorised, mapped and quantified according to the land types. The varying percentages of all the land types was calculated and common fields were shown to be most prevalent in the north and west of the region, while block holdings dominated in the south, with some areas showing no evidence of ever having had common fields.

By using trend lines derived from the computer-based Historic Landscape Characterisation mapping (recently carried out in the region under another English Heritage sponsored project) in conjunction with a variety of other data sets, it was possible to suggest a wider context for the case-study based conclusions. Of particular, and unexpected, importance was a division running diagonally across the claylands of central Suffolk, approximately on the line of the River Gipping. To the south of this there is gently undulating land which had a high potential for arable farming in pre-modern times, while to the north there is mainly flat land, with an historic tendency towards dairy farming. It was also possible to demonstrate a high incidence of block holdings in the southern area and, conversely, a link with a form of common fields to the north.

But beyond these topographically explicable differences, it was also apparent that the ‘Gipping divide’ was a significant cultural boundary. This can be seen in vernacular architecture, both in constructional methods and in plan forms; in the terminology used to describe greens and woods; and in inheritance customs. The patterns seen in south Suffolk extend into Essex and those in north Suffolk extend into Norfolk, indicating that this was a boundary of regional importance that has a greater cultural significance than the existing county boundaries.

In examining the origins of the region’s field systems, consideration was given to claims that some areas had extensive co-axial field systems of pre-Roman date. A careful examination of the evidence suggests that although co-axial systems do exist, they are not vast terrain-oblivious entities and that they have varying dates and purposes. Some co-axial systems may incorporate prehistoric elements, but others are likely to be late Saxon or early medieval in date. Importantly, they are not automatic indicators of early land allotment. The case studies suggest that ‘locational’ analysis involving soil type, drainage potential and access to water is a more certain way of identifying the areas most likely to have been used for early agriculture. In the northern part of the region these ‘core’ arable areas tended to develop into common fields, but in the southern zone they tended to become block demesnes, that is large fields that were the exclusive property of manorial lords. This divergent development probably had its genesis in the late Saxon period and has an obvious significance for the understanding of the origins of common fields on a wider, national, level.

The late Saxon period witnessed very significant advances and changes in agriculture that were to have far-reaching consequences. The factors driving and influencing these changes are complex but included a climatic amelioration, an increase in population, the development or re-introduction of the mouldboard plough and the Viking invasions. The project produced evidence pointing towards a linkage between areas of Viking settlement/influence and the appearance of common fields — but not in a simple sense of an imported idea, as current evidence suggests that the English common fields are earlier than those of Scandinavia. However, the adoption of common fields may have arisen out the social upheaval caused by the Viking interventions or in the reorganisation following the English re-conquest. If so, this could suggest an origin for common fields in the late ninth or early tenth centuries. Conversely, areas that showed minimal Viking influence seem to have developed block demesnes, possibly as a continuation of farming practices that could have their roots in the Roman period or even earlier.

These findings confirm that East Anglia has an important legacy of ‘ancient’ enclosed fields, corroborating the sixteenth-century observation by Sir Thomas Smith that it was one of the areas ‘wheare most inclosures be’. Ancient cultivation traces within the fields are, however, rare. This is not because ridge-and-furrow, as found in the Midlands, has been eroded away, but because over most of East Anglia ‘stetch’ ploughing was the norm and this produced low ridges that seldom survive as earthworks. The conservation priority therefore is the preservation and the historically appropriate management of the boundaries of these fields, for changing the appearance of boundaries can change the local character as much as changes to the pattern. The report has therefore pulled together a key collection of historical descriptions of the nature and management of field boundaries across the region, as an aid towards the informed conservation of the East Anglian landscape in the twenty-first century.

The Biddenham Loop has been the scene of human activity from the Palaeolithic through to the present-day but the majority of the archaeological evidence spans the Neolithic to the early 4th century AD. Apart from two handaxes, probably brought up from deep within the gravel by recent quarrying, no evidence for Palaeolithic activity was recovered. Given that the Biddenham area once had a reputation as a prolific source of material of this date, its absence is explained by the development’s relatively limited impact on the underlying gravel terrace.

Field artefact collection provided valuable information on the location of late Mesolithic/early Neolithic and late Neolithic/early Bronze Age occupation. During the earlier period, activity was concentrated along the edge of the river terrace. In contrast, the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age flint concentrations were far more widespread, extending into the interior of the Loop. No direct connection between this change and the tree-throw holes recorded in the excavation areas could be demonstrated but it is clear that extensive tree clearance must have taken place at this time.

A small number of probable Neolithic monuments, including rectangular and oval enclosures, were identified. Dating and function remain uncertain because the evidence for them derives mainly from non-intrusive survey. The high density of late Neolithic/early Bronze Age monuments, including thirty ring ditches, is suggestive of a ‘monument complex’, several of which have been identified along the Great Ouse. The ring ditches occurred in clusters, each in the vicinity of at least one Neolithic monument, suggesting a degree of continuity. One ring ditch actually truncated a probable Neolithic shaft. In addition to the monuments, some of which may have been associated with funerary practices, cremation burials were found in flat graves. In terms of location, the monuments (identified as cropmarks, geophysical anomalies and excavated features) and ‘settlement’ areas (identified by flint concentrations) were mutually exclusive. Where excavation was undertaken below flint concentrations, few sub-surface features were identified; it is presumed that the only evidence for ‘settlement’ survived in the ploughsoil. Elsewhere, where ‘settlement’ evidence was found, it comprised individual, or clustered, small pits.

Although the nature of any ‘settlement’ prior to the late Bronze Age is uncertain, thereafter the Biddenham Loop was continuously occupied until the end of the Romano-British period. This longevity of settlement must be due in part to local topography: a riverine location with adjacent land just above the flood plain. Any settlement would have been well positioned to exploit a range of natural resources. The main area of late Bronze Age-early Iron Age settlement was unenclosed and quite extensive. It contained several concentrations of features including small pits, water pits and post-built structures. Although limited, the evidence suggests that the settlement was permanent and that mixed agriculture was practised. At this time, the first physical land division, in the form of a pit alignment, was constructed within the Biddenham Loop. This has the appearance of a single boundary, designed to ‘cut off’ the southern two thirds of the area enclosed by the river’s meander. However, traces of a second pit alignment have been identified to the south, closer to the river, suggesting that a more complex series of boundaries may await discovery.

Six unenclosed, early-middle Iron Age farmsteads were identified, all sharing similar topographical locations adjacent to but above the floodplain. Two were close to the earlier settlement, possibly suggesting some degree of continuity. The key identifying characteristic of each farmstead was the presence of a concentration of large storage pits. However, one also contained evidence for roundhouses and enclosures; another was associated with an inhumation burial. Such pits have traditionally been interpreted as seed grain stores, but sufficient evidence was recovered to suggest that mixed farming continued to be practised.

All four late Iron Age/early Romano-British farmsteads were close to, but not in exactly the same location as, their predecessors. They were more extensive, although usually only comprised one ditched enclosure. Both cremation, including a cemetery, and inhumation burials occurred on the periphery of the settlement areas. Away from the farmsteads there was evidence for dispersed and isolated activity, including field systems, short-term occupation and a possible shrine. The latter is interesting because of its isolated position, some distance from the nearest farmstead.

The four farmsteads continued to be occupied into the late 1st century AD, although they were augmented by extensive rectilinear systems of ditched enclosures. Most contained enclosures with settlement-type features but only one produced direct evidence for buildings in the form of roundhouses. All the farmsteads were subject to minor redesign; two of them displayed more fundamental changes with substantial boundary alterations. Only one of the farmsteads is considered to be of anything other than low status. A system of fields, associated with the farmsteads, was present over most of the interior of the Biddenham Loop. Trackways linked the farmsteads and provided access to the floodplain and, probably, the substantial contemporary settlement at Kempston Church End. Although the precise status of the latter is uncertain, its presence is likely to have had a major influence on the inhabitants of the Biddenham Loop, providing a market for any surplus they produced. However, there is little evidence for high status goods coming out to the farmsteads in return.

The farmsteads ceased to function by the early 4th century, although there is some non-intrusive survey evidence for Saxon activity on at least one of them. However, settlement within the Biddenham Loop effectively ceased as it became incorporated into Biddenham township’s open fields.

The excavation of a sub-circular cropmark feature overlooking the Colne estuary to the north-west of Brightlingsea revealed a sequence of recutting indicative of a protracted programme of maintenance during the Early Neolithic period. A concentric inner ring-ditch was either earlier than or contemporary with the digging of the outer ditch, but had gone out of use before the abandonment of the site. The remains of a cremation burial and a series of deliberate deposits of flint artefacts and Mildenhall-style pottery indicate the date and ceremonial nature of the monument.

Four hundred metres to the south-east lay a Middle Bronze Age cremation cemetery comprising at least thirty-one ring-ditches and forty-eight burials. The burials were found to be distributed mostly between the ring-ditches, although a few were inside. It is suggested that this spatial pattern reflects the chronological development of the cemetery. Comparisons are drawn with the funerary complex at Ardleigh and other sites in the region.

Data collected during survey by fieldwalking within a 580ha area around the excavated sites is presented and discussed. The burnt flint spreads differ in character from one another with a string of very densely nucleated scatters between 5m and 10m OD interpreted as ploughed-out burnt flint mounds. Lithics concentrations almost certainly represent sites disturbed by ploughing. There is a long swathe of multi-period occupational remains on the southern crest of the peninsula’s 20m plateau.

This report presents the results of archaeological investigations undertaken in 2003–5 along the 6km route of the A505 Baldock bypass, Hertfordshire. The evidence spans the late Neolithic to the medieval period, although no evidence for activity from the later 5th century to the beginning of the 11th century was found. The late Neolithic evidence was dispersed across the route corridor and comprised bowl-shaped pits, shaft-like pits and a small funerary enclosure. Early Bronze Age activity was restricted to the northern portion of the route and included a small roundhouse and a cluster of seven barrows. These barrows subsequently became the focus of burial activity in the late Iron Age and earlier Roman period.

Evidence for early to middle Iron Age activity was concentrated on the Clay-with-flints soils of the Weston Hills. It comprised clusters of pits and occasional post-holes which were grouped into a series of activity areas. The pottery recovered hints at a chronological shift from north to south. These activity areas are thought to represent evidence for more permanent settlement, although the actual dwellings are assumed to lie outside the route corridor.

Roman boundary ditches and enclosures were found across most of the route corridor. Although evidence is somewhat piecemeal, there does appear to have been a reorganisation of the land boundaries, evidenced by infilling of later Iron Age boundaries and the excavation of new boundaries along a different alignment. Dominating the evidence for the Roman period were two roadways, each displaying a sequence of maintenance and repair. Both roadways lead into the Roman town of Baldock and both were on a similar alignment. A study of the repair sequences and associated finds suggests that a continuing problem of drainage and silting on one road led to the construction of a slightly realigned replacement.

Evidence for medieval settlement was confined to the northern portion of the route corridor, and included a rectangular enclosure containing a cemetery, pits and post-holes, with evidence of a hollow way running along the western side of the enclosure. Analysis of documentary evidence strongly suggests that this enclosure can be identified as the 13th-century Hospital of St Mary Magdalene in the parish of Clothall.

Woodland clearance along the route appears to have been complete by the early Bronze Age, with the earlier landscape probably a patchwork of woodland, pasture and cultivated fields. This clearance appears to be associated with a reduction in the numbers of pigs kept by the Bronze Age farmers, and the development of a pastoral economy based upon cattle and sheep. Much of the route from later prehistory onwards has been open calcareous grasslands, probably well grazed by sheep, which became increasingly important in the local economy; much of the wealth of medieval Baldock derived from wool.

Excavations at Bloodmoor Hill by the CAU have revealed a well-preserved and almost complete early Anglo-Saxon settlement, dating from the 6th to early 8th centuries AD, and a mid to late 7th-century cemetery, which lay within the settlement itself and included high-status female graves. The total excavated area exceeded 30,000sq m, and produced the remains of thirty-eight structures associated with sunken features (Grubenhäuser or SFBs), at least nine well-defined post-buildings (including one post-in-trench), four extensive ‘midden’ heaps or surface spread concentrations, and approximately 270 pits, as well as five hearth or oven bases. The site is remarkable for the amount of metalworking debris in evidence: over 160kg of metalworking slag, including hearth bottoms, crucibles and moulds, together with extensive collections of apparently scrap metal, which was found in concentrations indicative of distinct industrial areas. The site also produced large assemblages of Anglo-Saxon pottery, fired clay, animal bone and other materials. The structures and other features from the site are fully described, and the finds assemblages analysed by category, in order to characterise the status and nature of the settlement and its associated activities. The excavation methodology employed, whereby a proportion of features, including the surface deposits, were dug in spits and metre-squares, has enabled a detailed analysis of artefactual and soil movement across the site through time. Thus, the formation and growth of surface deposits, and the collection and dispersion of rubbish deposits from surface to subsoil feature, are outlined through a series of distribution plots. The end result is a multi-faceted study of one of the most complete early Anglo-Saxon settlements yet to be excavated, which concludes that the settlement may have been an early form of estate centre with associated high-status burial and industrial activity.

During the construction of Ormesby bypass in east Norfolk, human bones were found by the contractors. Excavation revealed that these were not isolated burials but part of a cemetery. Sixty articulated burials were excavated which, along with unstratified bones, represented a minimum of forty-five adults and seventeen children. A date range of 11th–14th centuries has been suggested by radiocarbon determinations which were calibrated with consideration of the marine protein component of the diet of the individuals. Demographic, metrical, morphological, dental and pathological aspects of the population have also been studied, and compared with other contemporary Norfolk groups. Demographic analysis suggests a trend towards death in old age amongst the men and in young adult life for the women. Metrical analysis showed a similarity with medieval groups in Norfolk, and non-metric traits suggested a close affinity with people from a nearby Saxon cemetery and a medieval group from Norwich.

Ormesby had four churches during the medieval period: the locations of three (St Margaret, St Michael and St Peter) were known, and the location of the fourth (St Andrew) suggested, prior to this excavation. None of these were adjacent to the burials. Consideration of the archaeological evidence along with aerial photographs, cartographic and secondary documentary evidence allows an alternative location to be suggested for the church of St Andrew, adjacent to the burials.

An early Anglo-Saxon cemetery was identified and excavated within the grounds of the former Park School, Rayleigh, Essex, in advance of development. The remains of 145 cremation burials, a further four possible cremation burials, a single possible inhumation burial and sixteen cemetery-related features were excavated over an area of 4325 sq m, most of which had been severely truncated. Although the majority of the cemetery appeared to be within the area of excavation, it is highly likely that further burials lie beyond the southern limit of the development.

Pottery vessels, metalwork and glass beads recovered from the burials indicate that the cemetery was in use from the second half of the 5th century through to the mid 6th century AD, and possibly into the late 6th. A relative paucity of higher status objects, including a complete lack of copper-alloy jewellery, suggests that the interred were part of a low-status, but fairly average, agricultural community. Some of the styles of pottery decoration have parallels in the cemetery at Mucking and in cemeteries in North Kent, indicating cross-Thames movement of goods and craftsmen and perhaps a shared ethnic identity.

A range of pyre goods were recovered in addition to the cremated human bone; all had been burnt at high temperatures. No pyre locations were identified, however. Pyre goods included the remains of food animals, secondary pottery vessels, glass beads and drinking vessels, copper-alloy bucket fittings, iron buckles, knife blades and possible shield rivets. One pit contained a relatively large amount of pyre goods and debris that appeared to have been deliberately buried. The possible inhumation burial contained a complete unburnt glass, amber and jet bead necklace, an iron knife blade and a copper-alloy suspension ring.

The Rayleigh cemetery was situated on the edge of a localised high point overlooking the floodplain of the River Crouch. It may have served a nearby settlement or a number of dispersed rural communities situated on the lower ground to the north and west. Underlying the cemetery was a scatter of prehistoric and Roman features that attest to earlier occupation of the landscape. Early Saxon cemeteries in Essex usually contain inhumation burials or a mix of inhumation and cremation burials. The Rayleigh cemetery is therefore unusual in being predominately comprised of cremation burials. However, it is unlikely that the complete cemetery was excavated and it is possible that further inhumation burials exist to the south of the development area.

Work in progress

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EAAs 67, 69 and 73 Spong Hill Anglo-Saxon cemetery, now £20, £17 and £17
EAA 72 Thetford Redcastle and EAA 74 Middle Harling, Norfolk, both now £10
for further details of these reports see ANGLO-SAXON

EAA 64 Grimston Norfolk now £20
EAA 68 Fishergate, Norwich now £10
for further details of these reports see MEDIEVAL

EAA 70 Flandrian Environmental Change in Fenland now only £25
EAA 71 Hullbridge Survey Essex now £20
EAA 75 North Shoebury Essex now £15
EAA 82 Blackwater Valley Essex now only £12
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