Barrington Cement Quarry, Cambridgeshire. Archaeological Evaluation below Barrington Ridge

Archaeological Fieldwork was undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), commissioned by RPS Planning on behalf of Cemex UK Ltd, between November 2005 and mid-February 2006 ahead of a proposed expansion of Barrington Cement Quarry, Cambridgeshire (Site centre TL 385 515). Shortly before completion of the work, the application was withdrawn but the investigations were completed and are fully reported upon here. The investigations, together with earlier phases of aerial photography and geophysical survey, revealed evidence spanning the Neolithic to the medieval period with previously unknown sites identified from the Bronze Age (possibly with Late Neolithic elements), Iron Age and Roman periods. A key observation was that the activity in different periods appeared to be located in different parts of the landscape with pre-Iron Age activity focussing on the chalkland close to dry-valleys, Iron Age on the hill top boulder clay and Roman on the flatter plain below the south facing slopes. Large quantities of artefacts, particularly Iron Age pottery, were recovered during the investigation and these have been subject to detailed study. Radiocarbon dating has tentatively placed an important group of features, including a rectangular enclosure and pit group in the Middle Bronze Age, with two ring ditches apparently being earlier (although the artefacts from the rectangular enclosure and pit group may alternatively suggest an Early Bronze Age date). The Iron Age sites functioned between 50BC and 70AD with the Roman site having its origins in the Flavian, period, after c. 69AD. Collectively, the orientation and alignment of the prehistoric sites may suggest a zone of early landscape clearance and communication running northwest-southeast through the central area of the evaluation site. Despite clear indications of remnant ridge and furrow in both the aerial photography and geophysical surveys, this actually survived very poorly below ground. There was no evidence of Anglo Saxon activity or of the later medieval period outside the agricultural features noted above