The Old Fire Station, Huntingdon Street, St. Neots, Cambridgeshire. An Archaeological Excavation

Abstract

Excavations were undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit between the 30th of April and the 19th of June 2012 on the site of the former Old Fire Station and former Household Waste Disposal Site, St. Neots, Cambridgeshire. This work has revealed evidence for medieval and later occupation. A roadside ditch along Huntingdon Street was established around the 11th century and by the 12th century the area was divided into a series of long narrow rectangular plots fronting onto Huntingdon Street. These represent a suburban expansion of the town of St. Neots; this development thrived throughout the 13th-mid 14th centuries, before going into a period of prolonged decline with identifiable activity ending in the late 16th-early 17th century. Occupation began again in the mid 18th century, again with its focus on Huntingdon Street. This has continued until the present, with particular evidence for a phase of activity in the early 20th century, which involved the deposition of two substantial groups of material.