West Court, Jesus College, Cambridge. Archaeological Evaluation and Monitoring

Between March and the end of October 2015 archaeological monitoring was carried out of building works being undertaken in the West Court area of Jesus College. Four sites were monitored, only three of which produced archaeology; the Park Street (entrance), Hockey Pitch and Basement. All of three sites had Roman features within them, with evidence of Medieval, Postmedieval and modern truncation above. Within the Hockey Pitch area two trenches revealed a series of late Roman ditches, pits and postholes cutting an earlier phase of quarrying which consisted of eight intercutting quarry pits truncating an earlier boundary ditch. The Park Street investigation consisted of two small but slightly deeper trenches which revealed three oval-shaped Roman pits (one of which contained a large amount of pottery), the terminus of a curvilinear ditch and a posthole. The Basement was the largest area (28m2), which like the Hockey Pitch contained a band of intercutting Roman quarry pits truncated by three parallel WNW-ESE ditches associated with what was probably the same late Roman field system, all of this being cut by a NNW-SSE boundary ditch of uncertain date. A single truncated human burial was found face down within one of the probable quarry pits, and it can only be assumed that this was Roman in date. This area of Jesus College between Park Street and Jesus Lane would appear to be part of a moderately busy extramural landscape associated with the Roman town, with evidence for quarrying, cemeteries (at Jesus Lane and Park Street), and also field system(s)