A large archaeological excavation was undertaken in 2023 prior to the construction of the new Cambridgeshire Southern Police Station directly west of the village of Milton, 4km north-east of the historic core of Cambridge.
The main features revealed were ditches that formed part of an extensive and complex series of intercutting compartmentalised late Roman period enclosures with associated boundary ditches, trackways, small timber structures, pits and other features, such as waterholes or wells, a pond and an oven. Activity on the site probably began in the mid-3rd century AD, apparently peaking in the mid- to late 4th century AD and possibly extending into the 5th century AD.
The remains indicate an intensive agricultural working area where activities related to the surplus production of grain and the penning/keeping and breeding of considerable numbers of domestic animals, principally cattle for traction activities such as ploughing and transport. This working area may well have formed part of a villa estate and evidence from the site and its vicinity indicates that a villa probably lay nearby—most likely in the unexcavated area immediately to the south.
A wide array of Roman finds was recovered, including a large pottery assemblage, 68 coins, ironwork, copper-alloy objects, glass vessels and bone and antler objects. These suggested basic, utilitarian occupation and activity, although some objects suggest ‘higher-status’ occupation in the vicinity. Evidence for small-scale bone and antler working appeared to reflect the manufacture of pins and handles respectively. A poignant discovery was a burial of three infants of the same age, very likely triplets, in a pit cut into the inner side of an enclosure ditch, probably in the late 4th century AD.
The agricultural working area/probable villa estate appears to have gone out of use around the end of the Roman period, c.AD 400 or shortly after, with enclosure and boundary ditches filled up at about this date. No features or finds of Anglo-Saxon date were recorded.
The results raise important questions as to how land tenure and land use changed following the departure of the Roman army in 410 AD. Was the estate confiscated, was it abandoned and left to fall out of use, and by who, and why was the system of land allotment filled in and levelled? Did woodland regenerate or were larger fields created and still tilled or given over to grazing? Infilling of the ditches suggests that land divisions, and potentially ownership or tenure, was deliberately changed as new systems of control, governance, coercion and military/politico dominance took hold.
Read more in our FREE ebook here: A Landscape of Plenty, Excavations on a Roman Estate, Cambridgeshire.
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Discover the project unfolding week by week!
During the excavation we were thrilled to be working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary to bring you news from this exciting excavation as it progressed from week to week. You can now you can read the updates from start to finish, below!
Read the initial announcement here.
Week 1 update.
Week 2 update
Week 3 update
Week 4 update
Week 5 update
Week 6 update
Week 7 update
Week 8 update
Week 9 update
Week 10 update
Week 11 update
Week 12 update
Week 13 update
Week 14 update
Week 15 update
Week 16 update
Week 17 update