Land off Downham Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire. An Archaeological Desk Based Assessment, Geophysical Survey, Trenched Evaluation & Test-Pit Watching Brief

Abstract

As part of the assessment of the archaeological potential on the site of the Proposed Sports & Leisure Development, Downham Road, Ely (centred on TL 5300 8130), an archaeological desk based assessment was commissioned by Richard Sears of Dentan Williams on behalf of Cambridge Property Group PLC. This reassessment follows an earlier desk based assessment and incorporates the findings of the geophysical survey (Section 2), archaeological trial-trenching (Section 3) and test-pit watching brief (Section 4), all of which were commissioned as part of an earlier planning application. The site is located approximately 1.5km west of the centre of Ely. Archival, aerial and cartographic sources demonstrate that the site is located in an area with known archaeology, including early prehistoric Iron Age, Roman and Saxon activity, and extensive medieval and later agricultural features. Geophysical survey indicated the presence of some archaeological features, although the site was dominated by the ploughed out remains of ridge and furrow agriculture. The trenching programme demonstrated that masked beneath this, particularly in the southern part of the site, was evidence of Middle Saxon occupation with associated field systems with a background presence of Iron Age and Romano-British activity. The north area predominantly contained medieval ridge and furrows in addition to a few undated linear features.