Land South of Wilberforce Road, Cambridge. An Archaeological Evaluation

An archaeological evaluation was conducted on land (1.45ha) formerly occupied by Grange Farm (established in 1823 as St John's New Farm) and passing through which is Akeman Street, Roman Cambridge's southern approach. Seven trenches and four test pits were opened, in addition to four trenches previously opened and reported on in 2013. No prehistoric features or artefacts were encountered, though colluvium may have begun to form across the site during the later Iron Age. Akeman Street traversed the site over a northeast-southwest orientation. It was up to 15.0m wide between its roadside ditches, with an agger of gravel over sandy clay to a maximum thickness of 0.3m. The agger was constructed over the early colluvium. A small amount of Roman pottery and animal bone came from two of the three ditches. The road was sealed by a second layer of colluvium. No historical occupation was evident prior to the construction of the post-Medieval farm buildings. This produced material and evidence for construction across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries