Land at Rear of 115-119 Shelford Road, Cambridge: An Archaeological Evaluation

Trial trench evaluation comprising 2 x 20m-long by 1.8m-wide trial trenches. The evaluation identified several ditches and pits, suggesting quite intensive past activity on the site, no doubt related to the adjacent multi-period sites identified during the large-scale archaeological work at Addenbrooke's Access Road (Timberlake 2007) and Areas E and F of Clay Farm (Phillips and Mortimer 2012). Only three ditches contained datable artefactual evidence, consisting of pottery dating from the Late Iron Age and early Romano-British periods. Stratigraphic information shows that earlier features are also present, but the lack of associated dating evidence limits conjecture about their phasing, other than the understanding that the features must be Romano-British or earlier. Evidence for post-medieval to modern activity was also identified, comprising one ditch, likely used as a field drain, and a small (possibly robbed-out) wall, both cutting through the subsoil horizon.