Between the 19th August and the 20th September 2024 Oxford Archaeology (Cambridge) undertook a programme of trial trenching (135 trenches in total) at the site of a proposed solar farm, on land north of Vicarage Lane, Diddington, Cambridgeshire (TL 18410 66150). A similar pattern of land-use was recorded during the evaluation as has been seen in other recent work on the clay uplands of south-west Cambridgeshire, such as at Wintringham (St Neots) and Cambourne, namely the progression from disparate farmsteads during the Middle Iron Age to more intensive land management and settlement during the Roman period. The westernmost field (Field 1) contained extensive evidence of Romano-British occupation probably related to a farmstead with multiple phases of activity. A complex network of ditches and enclosures was identified, including a large rectangular enclosure at the field's centre. Finds included significant quantities of Roman pottery, animal bone, and indications of possible industrial activity, such as kiln furniture fragments. Similar finds and indications of Romano-British activity were recovered from a rectilinear ditch network in the south-western corner of the field immediately to the east (Field 2). In the central and southern portions of this field several sub-square and sub-circular enclosures were revealed, distinct from the rectilinear pattern of the Romano-British enclosures. These features probably dated to the Middle Iron Age with evidence for continued, if reduced, use in the Late Iron Age. The location of one notable enclosure in the northern part of the field hinted at an earlier phase of Middle Bronze Age land-use, although the enclosure itself was probably Middle Iron Age; its ditch contained a disarticulated human skull, resting on the base of the feature. These enclosures probably served as smaller occupation zones or stock enclosures. The easternmost field, adjacent to the current A1 (Field 4), primarily contained post-medieval agricultural features such as furrows and narrower drainage ditches. However, evidence of significantly earlier activity was also present here in the form of a heavily truncated feature containing Mesolithic to Earlier Neolithic flints, a possible Iron Age ring gully and a solitary pit containing Early Anglo-Saxon pottery.
Abrehart et al. (Mon,) studied this question.