Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 100

Excavation at this site by Oxford Archaeology East, in advance of construction work, revealed two Beaker pits, the first of their kind in the area. These were followed by a possibly defensive late Iron Age boundary ditch. An adjacent enclosure '“ perhaps serving a mortuary function '“ may have originated in the middle of the first century AD and continued in use until around the late second century AD. Within the enclosure lay a cremation and two inhumations with unusual grave goods marking them out as the burials of significant local people.

Excavations on the claylands at Caldecote, 9km west of Cambridge, revealed the almost complete ground plan of a late Iron Age banjo enclosure and associated settlement dating to between c. 100-75 BC and AD c. 50. Although this type of monument has been occasionally identified as far north as Cleveland and Yorkshire, most examples are concentrated in the southern counties of England. The Caldecote example is one of only five known in Cambridgeshire and the only one to have been archaeologically investigated. The evidence suggests that the settlement at Caldecote should be viewed as only a small part of a wider system of agrarian clayland management at a time when the concept of enclosed property is first being introduced. These changes can be regarded as evidence of a community that was beginning to define its landscape and as the generations passed had the necessary skills to alter its surroundings to survive in a changing physical and political landscape. Au/LD

In 2007, Archaeological Solutions Ltd conducted an excavation at a site on Church Street in St Neots which lay immediately adjacent to areas in which C F Tebbutt, and later P V Addyman, recorded Anglo-Saxon settlement. The excavation identified features and finds ranging in date from the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age to the early modern period. The results help to further characterise the late Anglo-Saxon settlement at St Neots and identified further portions of the 17th to 18th century mansion, Hall Place, excavated by Addyman in 1961. In addition, small-scale Romano-British activity and evidence demonstrating the shift in focus from this area to the core of St Neots, to the west, during the medieval period was recorded.

In 2009, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit undertook an excavation in advance of the installation of a lift-shaft in the north-east corner of the former Divinity School range within the Old Schools of the University of Cambridge, in the heart of the historic town core. The work not only allowed for the investigation of the original east-front foundations of the building, but also provided a 1.4 x 2.7m exposure of the medieval strata of the properties preceding it. A small amount of residual Roman material was recovered and three phases of medieval to modern activity were distinguished, comprising: domestic settlement activity of the 11th century to c. 1370; the establishment of the University's Divinity School (c. 1370); and post-medieval/modern alterations to the Divinity School (1754 to the present). LD

Detailed investigation and analysis at Northborough Manor, located about six miles north of Peterborough, involving close examination of all of the accessible building fabric of the house and a new survey of the gatehouse, have given clarification and a fresh understanding of the development of the site. The view that the house was built in c. 1320-40 by Roger de Norburgh, bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, rather than the de la Mare family, is supported by this study. Analysis of the hall shows that the fine masonry was constructed for a different type of roof structure than the rather old-fashioned common rafter roof actually built. Much more survives of the service wing than has generally been thought, with considerable evidence for a good-quality chamber over the service rooms. The main chamber, however, was in a cross-wing at the opposite end of the hall, the evidence indicating that this was lost in the 18th century when the house declined in status. This solar was approached by an unusually advanced stairway of rectangular form, instead of the more usual spiral stair. The impressive gatehouse was probably built shortly after the house. Its unusual, skewed plan is no accident but a deliberate attempt to stage-manage the approach from the highway to the house to best advantage. A major later phase of work, including flooring over of the open hall and construction of a large stable block, is attributed to the Claypole family in c. 1620-40.

Short article marking the occasion of the publication of the 100th volume of the Proceedings of the Cambridgeshire Antiquarian Society. Gives a brief account of the development of the Society's publications since the report presented at its first general meeting in 1841, discussing the range of topics addressed, the first appearance of illustrations, some notable contributors, and the impact of changes in technology on the way the journal is prepared. LD