Access Cambridge Archaeology unpublished report series

In 2012 a small archaeological excavation was undertaken in the grounds of Ridley Hall Theological College by a number of volunteers, including sixth-form students and members of a local archaeology group, who were supervised and directed by Access Cambridge Archaeology at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Ridley Hall. The aim of the excavation was to identify, record and analyse any archaeological evidence surviving on the site of a proposed new building while also providing the opportunity for volunteers to learn new skills and experience aspects of life and learning at Cambridge University.

This report presents the results of a programme of archaeological excavation of 33 1m2 'test pits' in the small Suffolk town of Clare carried out in spring 2011. The programme was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund through the Managing a Masterpiece project intended to engage the communities of the Stour valley in their heritage. Over four days, more than 300 people from the local area took part in the excavations. The results provided new evidence for the development of the area now occupied by the town from the prehistoric period onwards. This appears to have lightly used by humans in the prehistoric and Roman period until the mid-8th century AD when a small settlement appears to have developed near the site of the present church. By the 9th or 10th century, a larger settlement had grown in its place, extending south towards the river Stour, possibly with a church in this southern zone. By the mid-11th century the settlement had developed into a small town, which was extensively re-organised shortly after the Norman Conquest, when it acquired a planned layout including a formal market place which had a motte and bailey castle on its south side and a church on its north, with some of the late Anglo-Saxon settlement removed at this time. The Norman town flourished for a couple of centuries, leading to the creation of a new market place to the north of the church. This period of growth ceased in the 14th century, when parts of the town were abandoned and others became more sparsely occupied. Revival did not take hold until perhaps the 17th or 18th centuries, although the Norman street plan endured throughout and survives to this day.

Over ten days from the 8th August to the 19th August 2011, three trial trenches were excavated on and around the motte at Mount Bures in Essex. An additional eight small archaeological test pits were also excavated in pasture fields surrounding the motte and the churchyard as well as in private gardens through the village of Mount Bures. Excavations were undertaken by local residents, members of various local archaeological and history societies, as well as numerous volunteers. The excavations were organised as a community training excavation by Access Cambridge Archaeology, in conjunction with the Managing a Masterpiece project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

This report presents the results of the 'Time Detectives' programme of archaeological excavation of 10 1m2 'test pits' in the Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Bulbeck in spring 2012. The programme was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and was intended to enable schools pupils and adults affected by autism engaging with local charity Red2Green to work together to explore their local heritage. Over three days, more than 50 people took part in the excavations which provided new evidence for the development of the area now occupied by the village from the prehistoric period onwards. This appears to have been lightly used by humans in the prehistoric and Roman period until the late 9th century AD when a small settlement appears to have developed near the site of the present church. This settlement expanded north in the 12th-14th centuries, when a new planned extension, Newnham End, was founded. This period of growth ceased in the 14th century, when the new settlement may have been at least partly abandoned. Revival did not take hold until perhaps the 17th or 18th centuries. By successfully involving adults affected by autism, local primary and secondary school pupils and local residents in organising and undertaking the excavations, the 'Time Detectives' excavations enabled participants to find out more about autism and about their local heritage, and showed how effectively archaeological excavation can bring diverse people together.

This report presents the results of the 'Dig and Sow' programme of excavation of 27 1m square archaeological 'test pits' in the Bedfordshire town of Potton in the spring of 2012. The excavations were part of 'On Landguard Point' an arts project funded by Arts Council England via its 'Artists taking the Lead' programme for the Cultural Olympiad of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Over a single day, nearly 30 people took part in the excavations in Potton which produced thousands of finds and provided new evidence for the development of settlement in the area from the prehistoric period onwards. The prehistoric activity in Potton was mainly in the form of flint tool production potentially from the Mesolithic period onwards with small scatters of lithics recorded from the test pits along the Potton Brook. No Roman or Anglo Saxon finds were recorded but a number of medieval finds were recorded as the village grew after the Norman Conquest. The Black Death made potentially only a slight impact on the settlement, but the village survived and grew into the town that can be seen today through the post medieval period. By successfully involving members of the public of all ages and backgrounds from within, across and beyond the community of Potton in planning, organising and undertaking the excavations, the 'Dig and Sow' excavations enabled participants to find out more about their local heritage, take part in the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and enjoy a community event while generating new evidence to inform understanding of the past development of their homes, their community and its wider landscape.

In July 2013, two archaeological trenches were excavated on Saffron Walden Common by 30 local sixth-form students in a programme of excavations funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund 'All Our Stories' scheme and supported by the AHRC Connected Communities theme under its Cambridge Community Heritage project. The trenches were sited over a feature identified during geophysical survey by Tim Dennis of the University of Essex, which crossed The Common on the approximate line of the outer castle bailey ditch proposed by Steven Bassett in 1982, but not previously proven. Over a period of 5 days, the excavations exposed two parts of a cut feature which proved to be a ditch with 12th century pottery in the base. The excavations thus provided firm evidence, for the first time, for the position and line of the outer castle bailey in this area.

This report presents the results of a programme of archaeological excavation of 30 1m2 'test pits' in the Leicestershire village of Great Bowden carried out in summer 2013 and 2014. The programme was funded by the Heritage Lottery with the aim of engaging the local community in their heritage. Scores of people from the local area took part in the excavations which provided new evidence for the development of the area now occupied by the village from the prehistoric period onwards. This appears to have lightly used by humans in the prehistoric period, but in the Roman period two sites, one (near the later church) considerably larger than the other, were present underneath the present village footprint. No evidence was found for activity in the 5th -9th centuries AD, but finds of late Anglo-Saxon pottery, especially Stamford Ware, indicate a thriving settlement newly founded between the mid 9th- mid 11th centuries. The test pit data clearly show the settlement to have grown rapidly into a large and densely packed village which retained some dispersed character arranged around greens and ends after the 11th century. The settlement experienced relatively little decline after the 14th century, and expanded again in the post-medieval period. The excavations were carried out by members of Great Bowden Heritage and Archaeology Society and residents of Great Bowden with advice from Access Cambridge Archaeology using ACA's standardised excavation and recording methods. The site reports and background history were drafted in the first instance by members of Great Bowden Heritage and Archaeology Group and the final edited report with analysis of the results was prepared by Access Cambridge Archaeology.

This report presents the results of the West Wickham Big Dig programme of excavation of eighteen 1m2 archaeological 'test pits' in the Cambridgeshire parish of West Wickham in summer 2013. The excavations were funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund's 'All Our Stories' grant to West Wickham and District Local History Club and were supported by Cambridge Community Heritage, funded by the AHRC. The results indicated that the landscape around West Wickham was extensively but lightly used by humans in the prehistoric period, although two pits yielding Bronze Age pottery hints at settlement or mortuary activity in the vicinity of the present church. No evidence of Roman date at all was found in the test pits within the present village, with the earliest post-prehistoric finds dating to the Anglo-Norman period, which were found near the parish church of St. Mary, suggesting that the present settlement at West Wickham was founded in this period as a small hamlet, arranged as a thinly occupied interrupted row, predating the foundation of Streetly End or Burton End. In the high medieval period, this settlement appears to have taken the form of a small nucleated village around a green extending east from the church of St Mary. Both Streetly End and Burton End appear to be later in date than West Wickham, but were in existence by 1100-1200 AD. This process of high medieval settlement expansion was abruptly arrested in the later medieval period, which saw the volume of pottery recovered severely reduced, with none at all found at Burton End. Recovery was not established until after the end of the medieval period, but was robust when it did occur, with the dispersed character hamlet-dominated character of the high medieval settlement pattern maintained until the later 19th/early 20th century.

This report presents the results of a programme of archaeological excavation of 32 1m2 'test pits' in the Cambridgeshire village of Meldreth carried out in summer 2013. The programme was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) through its 'All Our Stories' programme and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Connected Communities theme which funded the Cambridge Community Heritage programme at the University of Cambridge in 20012-13. Parts of the area appears to have quite intensively used by humans in the prehistoric period, with unusually large volumes of Bronze Age pottery recovered from at least four different sites. Pottery of Roman date favours the south of the present village. No evidence was found for any activity dating to the period between the 5th -9th centuries AD, but Saxo-Norman pottery was found widely, with particular concentrations on the manorial site of Topcliffe as well in the south of the village around Flambards moated site. The high medieval period sees the settlement extend westwards, probably laid out in the 12th or 13th century over former arable, with apparently new settlement sites founded at Chiswick and North End. This growth ceases in the late medieval period, but in the post-medieval period, however, the test pit data indicates that Meldreth stagnated, with the southern end of the settlement particularly badly affected.

This report presents the results of a programme of archaeological excavation of 23 1m2 'test pits' in the Bedfordshire village of Shillington carried out in summer 2013. The programme was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) through its 'All Our Stories' programme and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Connected Communities theme which funded the Cambridge Community Heritage programme at the University of Cambridge in 20012-13. The landscape was used by humans in the prehistoric period, apparently favouring the area nearer the small brook running west of the prominent hill which dominates the land around the parish. One test pit near this stream produced convincing evidence for undisturbed settlement remains in the immediate vicinity. Small quantities of pottery of Roman date came from five different sites, two of them away from the Brookside area hinting at a pattern of settlement or agricultural land use moving beyond the lower lying zones. No evidence was found for any activity dating to the period between the 5th - 9th centuries AD, but Saxo-Norman pottery of 10th - 11th century date was found in two distinct concentrations, suggesting more than one hamlet present, possibly part of a nucleated pattern of settlement, at this time. The high medieval period saw settlement at these sites grow and that at three other 'ends' appear, indicating a pattern of mixed dispersed and nucleated settlement. This growth ceases in the late medieval period, with Shillington particularly badly affected in this period of widespread demographic and settlement contraction compared to many settlements in the eastern region. In the post-medieval period, however, the test pit data indicates that Shillington gradually recovered, with former dispersed settlements mostly reoccupied, although it did not achieve its pre-14th century levels and some of the medieval 'ends' remained uninhabited until the 19th century.