Sheen Farm, Royston Road, Litlington: An Archaeological Statement

Abstract

Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) undertook an open-area archaeological excavation at Sheen Farm, Litlington, Cambridgeshire, to ‘preserve by record’ archaeological remains identified during previous works carried out by Oxford Archaeology (Booth 2019). The excavation was carried out in two phases between 6th September 2021 and 2nd November 2021 ahead of development. The site code is SFL21 and the event number is ECB6769. The investigations revealed a Roman farmstead comprising ditched enclosure and trackway, beam slots, a well and two kilns; supplemented by artefacts relating predominantly to the Roman period and providing the largest assemblage of archaeological material from the village of Litlington to date. The development area (DA) is located within a landscape of known Roman occupation, with a substantial Roman villa c.300m to the northwest and a Roman cemetery known as ‘Heaven’s Walls’ equidistant to the south. Excavations at Sheen Farm have identified evidence of a satellite farmstead located within this settlement complex, a subsidiary of the villa estate. The finds comprised significant quantities of ceramic building material (523 pieces, 77kg - including tegula, imbrex and box flue tile), animal bone and pottery of first to fourth century AD date (1544 pieces, 18kg) including Nene Valley and Hadham wares, similar to material recovered from the villa site; indicating a farmstead of some status. Ranging between the first to fourth centuries AD, the floruit of activity was between the third and fourth centuries with three phases of activity: (1) initial establishment, (2) expansion and development of the farmstead, and (3) final enclosure and re-establishment. The overarching aim of this project is to investigate the character and phasing of the site’s Romano-British activity within the context of the surrounding excavations, thereby enhancing our understanding of Romano-British settlement at Litlington and the site’s relationship to the villa.