Land South of Brooklands Farm Abbots Ripton Cambridgeshire
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Land south of Brooklands Farm Abbots Ripton Cambridgeshire Archaeological Evaluation HER Number: ECB4122 for The Abbey Group Cambridgeshire Ltd CA Project: 660163 CA Report: 13655 December 2013 LAND SOUTH OF BROOKLANDS FARM ABBOTS RIPTON CAMBRIDGESHIRE Archaeological Evaluation CA Project: 660163 CA Report: 13655 prepared by Jamie Wright (Project Officer) date 25 November 2013 checked by Derek Evans (Senior Project Officer) date 5 December 2013 Simon Carlyle (Principal Fieldwork Manager) approved by signed date 6 December 2013 issue 01 This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology Cirencester Milton Keynes Andover Building 11 Unit 4 Stanley House Kemble Enterprise Park Cromwell Business Centre Walworth Road Kemble, Cirencester Howard Way, Newport Pagnell Andover, Hampshire Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ MK16 9QS SP10 5LH t. 01285 771022 t. 01908 218320 t. 01264 347630 f. 01285 771033 e. [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Land south of Brooklands Farm, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3 The site .............................................................................................................. 3 Archaeological background ................................................................................ 4 Archaeological objectives ................................................................................... 4 Methodology....................................................................................................... 4 2. RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 6 The finds ............................................................................................................ 10 The palaeoenvironmental evidence .................................................................... 11 The human skeletal remains .............................................................................. 12 3. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 13 4. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 13 5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 14 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................... 15 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS ............................................................................................. 28 APPENDIX C: THE FAUNAL REMAINS ........................................................................ 33 APPENDIX D: THE HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS ...................................................... 35 APPENDIX C: THE PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE ....................................... 36 APPENDIX F: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 37 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan, showing archaeological features and cropmarks (1:3500) Fig. 3 Trench location plans, showing archaeological features and cropmarks (1:1000) Fig. 4 Trench location plans, showing archaeological features and cropmarks (1:1000) Fig. 5 Trench location plans, showing archaeological features and cropmarks (1:500) Fig. 6 Trench location plan, showing archaeological features overlaid on the proposed development plan (1:3500) Fig. 7 Trench 51: section and photograph (1:25) Fig. 8 Trenches 52 and 56: sections and photographs (1:20 & 1:40) Fig. 9 Trenches 59 and 60: sections and photographs (1:20) Fig. 10 Trenches 61 and 64: sections and photographs (1:20) 1 © Cotswold Archaeology Land south of Brooklands Farm, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Land south of Brooklands Farm Location: Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire NGR: TL 2270 7670 Type: Evaluation Date: 14 October–19 November 2013 Planning Reference: 1301218FUL Location of Archive: To be deposited with the Cambridgeshire County Archaeology Store Site Code: BLF 13 HER Number: ECB4122 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in October and November 2013 on land south of Brooklands Farm, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire. Seventy trenches were excavated. The evaluation uncovered a dense concentration of ditches, pits and postholes within the south-eastern corner of the site, an area where cropmarks had previously been recorded. These features were subject to limited investigation only, as an early decision was taken by the developer to remove this area of the site from construction impacts. High quantities of pottery and animal bone indicated that the site was primarily domestic in nature, although there was also limited evidence for animal husbandry and an isolated human burial was recorded. Dating evidence recovered from the site suggested that it was occupied from the later Iron Age into the earlier Roman era, with activity intensifying in the first century AD. The site appears to have been abandoned after the second century AD. The archaeological features at the site were almost entirely enclosed by an open, water-filled boundary/drainage ditch marked as a County Constituency Boundary on modern mapping. Cropmarks continue the line of the ditch to the north-east, outside of the site boundary. The apparent relationship between this ditch and the Iron Age/Roman features may suggest that the ditch has ancient antecedents – perhaps a natural watercourse which was later exploited as a drain. 2 © Cotswold Archaeology Land south of Brooklands Farm, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In October and November 2013, Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for the Abbey Group Cambridgeshire Ltd on land south of Brooklands Farm, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire (centred on NGR: TL 2270 7670; Fig. 1). An application (ref: 1301218FUL) has been made to Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) for the construction of a solar farm and ancillary structures at the site. 1.2 The evaluation was undertaken in response to a brief issued by the Historic Environment Team, Cambridgeshire County Council (HETCCC 2013), the archaeological advisors to HDC. The evaluation was in line with a subsequent detailed written scheme of investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2013a) and approved by Kasia Gdaniec (Senior Archaeologist, HETCCC). 1.3 The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation (IfA 2009); Research and Archaeology: A Framework for the Eastern Counties 1 – Resource Assessment and 2 – Research Agenda and Strategy (EAA Occasional Papers 3 and 8); Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991); and Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (English Heritage 2006). It was monitored by Kasia Gdaniec, including a site visit on 5 November 2013. The site 1.4 The evaluation site is located some 0.8km south-west of the village of Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, and encloses an area of approximately 56.7ha. At the time of the evaluation, it comprised three agricultural fields, defined by ditches. The Great Northern Railway runs along the eastern site boundary, and Rectory Lane runs along the northern boundary. Alconbury Airfield lies to the immediate south-west of the site; further agricultural fields lie to the north, south and east. 1.5 The site lies at an average of 43m AOD. The ground is relatively flat, but displays a gentle slope down towards the north-western and southern boundaries. The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as mudstones of the Oxford Clay Formation. Where recorded, the superficial deposits at the site comprise Mid Pleistocene till (BGS 2013). The site lies to the south-west of the Fens. 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Land south of Brooklands Farm, Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire: Archaeological Evaluation Archaeological background 1.6 The following information is summarised from the desk-based assessment of the site produced by CA (2013b). 1.7 The south-eastern corner of the site contains extensive cropmarks indicative of possible Iron Age and/or Roman settlement. These cropmarks continue to the immediate east of the site. Iron Age and Roman field systems were investigated during an archaeological evaluation to the south-west of the site (Macaulay 2000). A Roman stone and artefact scatter was found within the eastern part of the site. 1.8 There is aerial photographic evidence for former medieval ridge and furrow field systems within the site. Three medieval moated sites (all of which are scheduled monuments) lie within 1km of the evaluation site boundary. Archaeological objectives 1.9 The objectives of the evaluation were to provide information on the archaeological resource within the site, including its presence/absence, character, extent, date, integrity, and state of preservation, in accordance with the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation