Storey's Bar, Fengate: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment and Test Pit Survey

Abstract

Archaeological desk based assessment and test pit survey were undertaken by Cambridge Archaeological Unit on land adjacent to Storey’s Bar Road, Fengate on behalf of Global Olivine UK Ltd. In October 2003. The work was the first of two phases of investigation designed to assess the archaeological potential of the site in advance of the construction of a waste-to-energy plant. The proposed development area (PDA) lay 600m north west of the nationally important Bronze Age site of Flag Fen and evidence of prehistoric and Roman activity was known of within the immediate vicinity; it was clearly of high archaeological potential. This report brought together the results of extensive archaeological investigation in the Flag Fen embayment and aimed to establish the location of the prehistoric and Roman fen edge and any known archaeological features in the immediate vicinity that might extend within the site. The findings indicate that the land within the PDA was low lying (between 0.04–0.07m OD) and would have stood in an increasingly wet, fen environment during the later prehistoric and Roman periods; no trace of the mainland gravel terrace was uncovered in the test pits. Excavations at Fengate Power Station to the south showed that the Flag Fen Bronze Age wooden post alignment passed 100m to the south of the site, however cropmark evidence suggested that the Roman Fen Causeway probably ran into its southern most part. Prehistoric wetland archaeology or features relating to the Roman Fen Causeway could therefore be revealed within the PDA.