Archaeological test pit excavations at Meldreth, Cambridgeshire

This report presents the results of a programme of archaeological excavation of 321m2‘test pits’ in the Cambridgeshire village of Meldreth carried out in summer 2013.The programme was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) through its ‘All OurStories’ programme and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council(AHRC) Connected Communities theme which funded the Cambridge CommunityHeritage programme at the University of Cambridge in 20012-13. Over threeweekends, more than 300 residents of the village of Meldreth and the local area tookpart in the excavations in 32 different locations throughout the present village. Theresults provided new evidence for the development of the area now occupied by thevillage, which mostly lies alongside a small stream, from the prehistoric periodonwards.Parts of the area appears to have been quite intensively used by humans in theprehistoric period, with unusually large volumes of Bronze Age pottery recoveredfrom at least four different sites likely to be indicative of settlement and/or burial.Pottery of Roman date favours the south of the present village, and suggestssettlement took the form of a dispersed scatter of small settlements such asfarmsteads surrounded by arable fields to the north. No evidence was found for anyactivity dating to the period between the 5th –9th centuries AD, but Saxo-Normanpottery was found widely, with particular concentrations on the manorial site ofTopcliffe as well as in the south of the village around Flambards moated site. Theabsence of any Thetford ware from Meldreth suggests that this activity is likely to bepost-Conquest in date and that the medieval settlement originates in this periodrather than earlier. The high medieval period sees the settlement extend westwards,probably laid out in the 12th or 13th century over former arable, with apparently newsettlement sites founded at Chiswick and North End. This growth ceases in the latemedieval period, although Meldreth does not appear to be as badly affected in thisperiod of widespread demographic and settlement contraction as many settlementsin the eastern region. In the post-medieval period, however, the test pit dataindicates that Meldreth stagnated, with the southern end of the settlementparticularly badly affected.