Archaeological Desk Based Assessment, Sawtry CAMBS.

Student number; 0863205

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Archaeological Desk Based Assessment.

Module Code; AG215996S

Student Number 0863205

Word Count; 2, 981.

Phil Hill.

Plate 1. The view from TL173 843 looking North West towards Sawtry Industrial

Estate (Authors own photograph).


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Abstract.

An archaeological desktop survey of land North of Tort Hill Sawtry centred on grid

reference TL 170 845, Ordnance Survey Explorer Series Map number 227. North of

Tort Hill a total of almost 21 hectares has been identified as having potential for

development in Huntingdonshire District Council’s Local Development Framework

Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment in June 2008 (available at

Environment and Community Services – Planning, http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk

accessed 20/02/2012). This assessment identified a total of 14 sites in Sawtry the

land north of Tort Hill being identified as number 5 (photograph on front cover) and

number 10 (photograph on page 4). Construction of 180 homes has already begun

at the site identified as number 3 in the assessment (see map 1, below).

Map 1. Taken from the Local Development Framework document this map shows all

the land around Sawtry identified as available for development. The site is at the

North of the village adjacent to the A1M, numbers 5 & 10. Sawtry scheduled ancient

monument (SAM 172) is number 6.

http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk/


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This desktop survey has established the archaeological potential of the land North of

Tort Hill (hereafter called “the site”) by examining documentary sources, previous

archaeological investigations/excavations and aerial photographs as well as site

inspections. Within 500 metres of the centre of the site Cambridgeshire Heritage

Environment Record (CHER) lists 12 records

(http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/ accessed 30th April 2012).

Immediately South of Tort Hill is Scheduled Ancient Monument 172 Sawtry moat and

deserted medieval village. Adjacent to the A1motorway in grid square TL17 84

CHER 01332 lists two Roman roadside burials as well as CHER 01329a/b/c &d a

Romano/British settlement discovered in 1939 ahead of the A1 trunk road

construction scheme. CHER 11666 TL172 846 Tort Hill West is an Iron

Age/Romano-British roadside settlement excavated in 1996 ahead of the A1M

widening scheme. The fields surrounding the site have a number of visible

archaeological features including Iron Age and Romano-British field systems as well

as substantial medieval ridge and furrow and a moated medieval house platform and

shrunken (or shifted) medieval village and a possible civil war gun platform. The

potential for further Iron Age/Romano-British remains is high however other pre-

historic tools and implements as well as medieval remains are also listed in the

vicinity.

The new National Planning policy Framework (NPPF) published by the Department

for Communities and Local Government in March 2012 recommends that “in

determining applications local authorities should require an applicant to describe the

significance of any heritage assets affected” (section 12.8 NPPF 2012), it then spells

out that as a minimum the Heritage Environment Record (HER) should be consulted

and that developers should submit an appropriate desk based assessment (DBA)

and where necessary a field evaluation. This DBA has been carried out in

accordance with the Standard and Guidance for historic environment desk based

assessments set out by the Institute for Archaeologists available as a free download

from their website at http://wwwarchaeologists.net/codes/ifa (accessed 20/02/2012).

http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/

http://wwwarchaeologists.net/codes/ifa


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Plate 2. The view from TL173 843 looking North East towards the A1Motorway,

Connington Church tower is visible in the distance (Authors own photograph).

The NPPF spells out exactly what constitutes the historic environment and what

should be included in a desk based assessment as follows;

Historic environment; “all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction

between people and places through time, including all surviving physical remains of

past human activity, whether visible – buried or submerged, and landscaped and

planted or managed flora” (National Planning Policy Framework March 2012).


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Contents.

Page 2. Abstract.

Page 6. Location.

Page 7. Geology and topography.

Page 8. Aerial photography and map regression.

Page 13. Archaeology.

Page 15, History and development.

Page 17. Conclusions and recommendations.

Page 18. References and bibliography.

Page 19. Appendix 1, CHER fieldwork references.

List of illustrations.

Page 1. Plate 1. The view from TL173 843 looking North West.

Page 2. Map 1. Local Development Framework.

Page 4. Plate 2. The view from TL173 843 looking North East.

Page 6.Map 2. Location of Sawtry village.

Page 7. Map 3. Site location.

Page 8. Plate 3. Google Earth image

Page 9. Map 4. The 1809 enclosure award map.

Page 10. Map 5. The 1612 Cavendish Estate map.

Page 11. Plate 4. The RAF 1945 aerial photograph.

Page 12. Plate 5. RAF aerial photograph taken during January 1968.

Page 14. Plate 6. The closest 12 CHER entries.


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Location.

The parish of Sawtry lies in the administrative district of Huntingdonshire within the

county of Cambridgeshire. It is a large village with a population of almost 7,000. The

Ordnance Survey grid reference for the village green at the centre of the village is TL

167 837. The village sits, for the most part, on the western side of the A1 Motorway

roughly half way between Huntingdon and Peterborough (see map 1).

Map 2. Location of Sawtry village roughly halfway between Huntingdon and

Peterborough (http://www.my.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/?tab=maps) accessed

30/04/2012).

The site itself is located at the extreme Northeast of the village adjacent to the A1M.

Access to the site is either off of the Brookside Industrial estate or from Tort Hill /

Tinkers lane.

The site is bounded to the East by the A1 motorway, North is Sawtry Brook and open

fields looking towards Glatton Village. West is the light industrial estate and late 20th

Century housing and South is a mix of historic 17-19th Century housing, 20th Century

infill housing and the Scheduled Ancient Monument (see map 3, page 6).

http://www.my.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/?tab=maps


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Map 3. Site location showing current access points, proximity to the village centre

and A1Motorway (http://www.my.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/?tab=maps) accessed

30/04/2012).

Geology and Topography.

Sawtry is situated on the western edge of the fen margin landscape although the

village is separated physically from the fenland landscape by the A1M. Immediately

surrounding the village and to the west is the central clay lands landscape which

rises up to the northern Wolds. The eastern side of the parish is at or around sea

level (0-5 metres OD). High Holborn hill just to the southwest of the village rises up

to 43 metres OD. The highest part of the parish at 60 metres OD is in the north

western edge between Glatton and Gidding (Welsh 1994). These uplands are an

Oxford clay base with exposed Glacial Boulder clay against the fen edge (Kirby &

Oosthuizen 2000).

The site is between these two extremes and the centre of the site itself is at 12

metres OD sloping gently down towards the A1M and the fen edge also sloping

gently down towards the village centre before rising up to High Holborn Hill. The site

is currently arable and appears to have been so for some considerable time,

certainly in living memory (see plate 3, page 7).

A1M

Sawtry

The

site



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Plate 3. Google Earth image replicating map 3 on page 6, showing the arable nature

of the site (http://www.my.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/?tab=maps) accessed 30/04/2012).

Aerial Photography and Map Regression.

The County Archives office in Huntingdon contains a whole range of Ordnance

Survey maps of the Sawtry area from the 19 & 20th Centuries’ including 1897

through to 1957 and beyond but the nature and shape of the site has not changed at

all from the 1809 Act of Enclosure map and in fact many of the field boundaries in

use today can be traced on the Cavendish estate map of 1612. Therefore only the

1612, 1809 and modern OS map are shown here for comparison.

Huntingdon Archives also has a collection of the RAF aerial photographs, the RAF

took aerial photographs of the entire country at 10 year intervals between the late

1930s and 2001 where they were phased out with the advent of satellite imagery.

These photographs also show the changing landscape in incredible detail. Shown

here for illustration is the earliest aerial photograph of the Sawtry area taken in

October 1945, clearly visible are the road workings for the construction of the A1

trunk road began in 1939 but suspended for the duration of the war.



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The most obvious feature in this photograph is the extensive broad ridge and furrow,

evidence of medieval and post medieval ploughing (plate 4, page 11).

Map 4. The 1809 enclosure award map with the route of the A1M superimposed

over. The field boundaries within the site marked in green are all still visible on the

up to date OS map (page 6) and the Google image shown on page 7 as well as the

majority of the others on the map (courtesy Huntingdon Archives Office).

Approximate

route of

A1M

Sawtry

St Andrews

Church


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Map 5. The 1612 Cavendish Estate map, a full version is available in colour in the

famous Cavendish Atlas held in the archives at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

Once again many field boundaries illustrated here and the parish boundaries still

exist on the modern OS map (courtesy Huntingdon Archives Office).

Approximate

route of A1M

St

Andrews

Church


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Plate 4. The RAF 1945 aerial photograph showing the extensive medieval ridge and

furrow ploughing. Of particular note is the way the enclosure field boundaries cut

across existing ridge and furrow (courtesy Huntingdon Archives Office).

St Andrews

Church


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Plate 5. RAF aerial photograph taken during January 1968, a particularly useful

photograph showing a snow covered Sawtry, as well as the medieval ridge and

furrow many other archaeological features are visible including the civil war gun

platform and enclosing embankment (circled green) and the moated platform and

associated stew ponds (circled yellow) (courtesy Huntingdon Archives Office).

It is obvious from this collection of maps and photographs that the nature and

general shape of the site has not altered over the last 400 years or more. The only

real change has been the building and widening of the A1 from trunk road to dual

carriageway to 6 lane motorway and the destruction of the ridge and furrow plough

marks by modern farming methods since 1945 and the way in which that destruction

has accelerated over the last 30 years.


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Archaeology.

The 12 CHER entries within 500 metres of the site are mostly Iron Age – Romano-

British in nature. The closest is CHER 11666 (Welsh K 1994) which was an

excavation carried out ahead of one of the widening programmes for the A1 which

revealed extensive evidence for a late Iron Age to 5th Century Romano-British

farmstead including roundhouses and beam slot type buildings as well as a Roman

age inhumation burial (3rd/4th century). The grid reference given was TL172846

placing this excavation within the site adjacent to the motorway (see plate 6 below).

Plate 6. The closest 12 CHER entries and their relationship to the site

(http://www.my.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/?tab=maps) accessed 30/04/2012.

CHER9946 is a medieval aged bridge support now faced with modern stone

indicating the route of the ancient Great North Road or Ermine Street.

CHER1328, Roman silver coin of Julius Caesar.

CHER1446 listed as a possible barrow or windmill mound (windmill shown on

1612 and 1809 maps).

CHER1446a. Possible medieval post-mill.

CHER1332 two Roman stone coffins and inhumations, one male & one

female.

CHER11666

CHER 9946

CHER 01328

CHER 01446a

CHER 01446

CHER1332

CHER1334

CHER11665

CHER11721

CHER01834

MCB15921

CHER1329



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CHER1334 Roman pot sherds, colour coated.

CHER11665 Extensive Roman settlement remains 1st - 4th Century, including

cobbled surfaces, ovens & hearths etc.

CHER11721 Further evidence of Roman occupation, Roman and Iron Age

pottery as well as cobbled areas.

MCB15921, medieval ridge and furrow.

CHER1329 a,b.c&d. This is the collective CHER entry for SAM172 including

the medieval moat and related earthworks, Roman and early medieval find

spots and the civil war platform.

This represents the immediate vicinity of the site up to 500 metres form the centre of

the field, within 1km of the centre there are a further 37 HER entries although the

pattern is much the same, I.E. Iron Age and Romano-British settlement evidence

followed by medieval farming evidence.

At each stage of the upgrading, widening or re-aligning of the A1 archaeological

excavations have taken place meaning that the A1 corridor is well documented

archaeologically, at least in later years. During the 1945-50 construction work 83

worked flint items were discovered suggesting later Neolithic or early Bronze Age

activity, however their find spot was not recorded except as Tort Hill West (Ellis et al

1996).

Not all of these archaeologists are in agreement however, Hall writing in 1992

declares that “overall it seems that there was little evidence of a Roman period

settlement in this area”. Later Roberts (1995) concludes that “the route of Roman

Ermine Street passes through the site and is particularly rich in Roman remains.

Another issue is the exact position of the Roman road, Welsh (1994) argues that “the

Roman road is under the western (northbound) carriageway of the A1M”, whereas

Kemp & Reynolds (1995) are sure that Ogilbey’s map of 1675 is right to have the Old

North Road following the Roman road shifting only slightly to allow for turnpiking in

the 17th Century.


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History and development.

The Domesday Survey of 1806 lists three manors in Sawtry, Beaumes, Judith and

Moyne. The moated platform is likely to have housed Moyne Manor, the funerary

brass of Sir William De Moyne (d1412) is held in All Saints church adjacent to

SAM172 (VCH 1932). Moyne manor included numerous villagers, smallholders a

church and a priest (Morris 1975). Earlier references to Sawtry mention King Canute

gifting the land to Turchill (Thorkell) the Dane who died in 1039 bequeathing the

manor to his wife Thurgunt of Hurogonda (Jamison 1986).

Throughout the medieval period there is little surviving documentary evidence

although the de Moyne and Cromwell families do feature at various times, By 1612

Sir William (Lord) Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire is in ownership and he

provides us with the first map of Sawtry.

The Enclosure Award was made in 1809 and the complete document is held at

Huntingdon Archives Office together with a huge fold out map. Sawtry seem not to

have developed much for the next 150 years and the aerial photograph of 1945

shows a Sawtry not much altered from the 1809 Enclosure map.

Post WW2 is a different story. Large scale developments from the 1960s to the

present day have completely altered the village character. Each piecemeal

development has a different architectural style and technique creating a patchwork of

small to medium size housing estates with no common theme. This combined with

seemingly random infill of open spaces means that any further development is

unlikely to further harm the character of the village.


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Conclusions and Recommendations.

The ancient history of Sawtry District is made up almost entirely from archaeological

evidence turned up at each of the developments made to the A1, from Old North

Road to A1 trunk road to A1 dual carriageway to A1 Motorway over the last 50 years

or so. Before that time a local doctor and antiquarian called JP Garood had

excavated a couple of sites between Alconbury and Sawtry, his reports feature in the

publications of the Huntingdon Antiquarian Society but are far from complete.

Archaeological excavations since 2000 have been carried out on the Eastern side of

the A1m ahead of construction of two large factories and both of these add to the

evidence of Iron Age and Roman settlements in the area (Doyle & Weston 2006 and

Eddisford, O’brien & Williamson 2004). It is now widely accepted that Sawtry has a

fairly significant late Iron Age/Romano-British settlement somewhere under its north

eastern quarter. Depending on which archaeologist you read this will be beneath the

site under consideration or on the opposite side of the motorway.

At 21 hectares the site is too large to be subject to a complete geophysical survey so

the recommendation here is to proceed with an evaluation excavation in the field

immediately adjacent to the motorway and to carry out a reduced geophysical survey

further away from the motorway. The evidence from previous archaeological

excavations shows that it would be likely for archaeological evidence to have

survived intact.


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References and Bibliography.

Cambridgeshire Archaeology. http://www.my.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/?tab=maps

accessed 30/04/2012.

Craig. J., Burchan. J., & Truslove. J., 1809. Sawtry Act of Enclosure. Huntingdon.

NPPF 2012. Department for Communities and Local Government. http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/nppf accessed 23/03/2012.

Ellis. P., et al, 1996. Excavations alongside roman Ermine Street in Cambridgeshire.

Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit. Archeopress, Oxford. BAR 276

Garood. J., 1937. An Iron Age and Romano-British village in Huntingdonshire. Antiquaries Journal, vol. 20 1940. Huntingdon.

Hall. D., & Buckley. D., eds 1992. Fenland Survey vol 6. Cambridgeshire. The South West Cambridgeshire Fens. Cambridge Archaeological committee.

Local Development Framework Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. 2008 (available at Environment and Community Services – Planning, http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk accessed 20/02/2012.

Institute for Archaeologists (IFA). http://www.archaeologists.net/codes/ifa accessed 23/03/2012.

Jamison. C., 1986. A history of Sawtry. Cambridge. Cambs Libraries Publication.

Kirby. T., & Oosthuizen. S., 2000. An atlas of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire History. Cambridge. Anglia Polytechnic University.

Morris. J., ed 1975. History from the sources, Domesday book, Huntingdonshire.

Chichester Philimore.

Page. W., Proby. G., and Norris. H., eds 1932. Victoria County Histories, Huntingdonshire vol 2. London St Catherine’s Press.

Pearson & Murray 2000. Land adjacent to St Andrews graveyard Sawtry. Hertford. Hertfordshire archaeological trust report number 763

Roberts. J., 1995. Further excavations at the Roman settlement east of Tort hill Sawtry. Cambridge CCC AFU report no. A60

Shiel. D., 1997. Geophysical survey report; Sawtry. Bradford. Geophysical survey report no. 97/102

Tuck. C., and McOmish. D., 1999. RCHME SAM pilot project. London. English Heritage.

Welsh. K., 1994. Iron Age and Roman settlement remains at Tort hill, Sawtry. Cambridge. CCC AFU report number 103.


http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/nppf

http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk/

http://www.archaeologists.net/codes/ifa


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Appendix 1 CHER fieldwork references.

ECB345 Excavations at Tort Hill, Sawtry. 1965 TL173842.

ECB1685 Preliminary assessment, A1 widening scheme, 1991 CCC AFU Alconbury

to Norman Cross.

ECB1555 Evaluation at Tort Hill, Sawtry. 1993 TL172846 CCC AFU.

ECB1047 Assessment, pipeline East of Tort Hill, Sawtry. TL172848 CCC AFU.

ECB 1604 Excavations along Roman Ermine Street Cambs. 1996 TL171846.

Birmingham University Field Archaeological Unit (BUFAU).

ECB2782 Evaluation of Tort Hill East 1996 TL173845 BUFAU.

ECB976 Watching brief, Manor Farm Sawtry. 1997 CCC AFU TL171839.

ECB2254 Geophysical survey 1997 Geophysical Surveys of Bradford. TL172840.

ECB 511 Evaluation and earthwork survey at St Andrews way Sawtry. 1988. Lindsay

Archaeological Services TL173835.

ECB2021 Survey of SAM 172 1999 RCHME TL172839.

ECB316 Evaluation, land adjacent to St Andrews graveyard. 2000 Hertfordshire

Archaeological trust TL176839.

ECB1916 Evaluation, Black Horse Farm Sawtry. 2004 Archaeological Solutions

TL177832.

HER 01834 Fieldwalk by Sawtry Archaeological Society 1983. TL173848. 15 kg of

Roman roof tile was collected (approximately 25% of what was discovered). In one

hour 1,254 sherds Roman pottery and 25 Roman coins

Archaeological Desk Based Assessment, Sawtry CAMBS.

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