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

Abstract

An archaeological evaluation consisting of twenty trenches covering 277.8m2 was conducted by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit on the site of the proposed development of the former Old Fire Station, former Household Waste Disposal Site, Car Park and Recreation Ground, St. Neots, Cambridgeshire in July 2011. The earliest features encountered were Saxo-Norman with some form of activity probably beginning in the 12th century AD and continuing until around the 14th century. There was possibly a roadside ditch along Huntingdon Street, and in close proximity to this were postholes relating to a fence or building, a pit or well and various other features. These remains appear to represent a short-lived expansion of St. Neots, with domestic occupation fronting onto Huntingdon Street. Further to the east there was also evidence of contemporary sand/gravel quarrying and strip-agriculture. Activity apart from strip-agriculture appears to have ceased during the 14th-15th centuries, and activity only resumed in the 18th-19th centuries.