NHER 39670 (Monument record) - Medieval chalk and sand extraction site, London Road Cemetery Extension

September 2003. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site of proposed cemetery extension. Contexts 1-137.
Investigations revealed that this site had been extensively used for the extraction of sand and chalk during the 11th and 12th centuries AD. There were also a number of ditches, pits, gullies and slots concentrated in the northern part of the site, several of which contained material also dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. One feature on the eastern side of the site contained a large quantity of pottery and slag indicating both domestic and industrial activity in the immediate vicinity, but there was no evidence of extensive occupation on this site. A large finds assemblage was recovered from both stratified and unstratified contexts, including 486 sherds of pottery (Thetford ware, St. Neots, Stamford, and some medieval wares), 144 fragments of oyster and mussel shell, 51 fragments of slag, and 630 fragments of animal bone. The majority of this assemblage has been dated to the 11th to 12th century, with only one sherd of residual Roman pottery, one residual Roman coin, and a small quantity of Prehistoric worked flint. The presence of worked flint, an adjacent barrow (NHER 5828), and nearby Iron Age settlement (NHER 5756) indicates that some of the undated pits could date to the Late Prehistoric period, but no pottery of this date was recovered.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S2).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 24 May 2007. Updated H. Hamilton (NLA), 30 July 2008.