Five Sites in Cambridgeshire: Excavations at Woodhurst, Fordham, Soham, Buckden and St Neots, 1998–2002

The results of five excavations carried out in Cambridgeshire between 1998 and 2002 by Birmingham University Archaeological Field Unit (BUFAU) - currently known as Birmingham Archaeology (BA). The respective sites are distributed fairly evenly across thecounty and run in a broad west to northeast direction that roughly centres upon Cambridge. The sites investigated are all within small towns or villages that have been the site of continuous settlement since at least medieval times. Consequently, the excavations proved very productive, revealing evidence for a wide range of activities and sometimes considerable spans of occupation. At Woodhurst, a Romano-British settlement was later succeeded by Saxon and then medieval occupation of the same area. Fordham provided a detailed insight into changing patterns of activity in a single location during the Anglo-Saxon period. Investigations at Buckden produced a less wide-ranging but nonetheless significant view of economic activities during medieval times. Finally, the excavations at Soham and St Neots revealed sequences running respectively from the Late Saxon and medieval periods through until modern times. In addition, all five sites produced small-scale evidence for prehistoric activity which combine to form a small but useful contribution to existing knowledge of prehistoric occupation in the region.