Land between High Street and Long Lane, Willingham, Cambridgeshire
10 - Archaeological planning condition was discharged before the specified works had been completed
A planning condition has been discharged before investigation has been completed in accordance with the WSI, or the post-excavation stage agreed and resourced, and this caused difficulties with securing post-excavation, publication, archiving.
Undesignated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
Construction of 77 dwellings and associated works.
The development site was located within the historic core of the village of Willingham.
The archaeological potential of the site was identified by a desk-based assessment and evaluation trenching in 1995.
Planning permission was given for the development with a pre-commencement planning condition, requiring a programme of archaeological investigation before each phase of the development.
Following the excavation a post-excavation assessment and proposal for analysis and publication was compiled. The LPA were not aware that no agreement had been reached with the developer over the programme and costs, and so discharged the planning condition.
A summary of the results of the archaeological investigation was produced and published, but full analysis and publication could not be undertaken.
The excavations in 1996-7 in advance of and during the housing development revealed extensive early to middle Anglo-Saxon settlement remains. The following summary is taken from the draft post-excavation assessment and project design of 1996:
"Two areas contained evidence for post-built double-square 'hall' type buildings, the largest c. 10 m by c. 5 m. Eight were complete and discernible in plan, a further two were seen in partial plan, and other post-holes may represent other buildings or fence lines. Of particular interest was a Saxon well with its wattle lining and other timber surviving intact. Provisional study suggested an early Saxon date for some of the pottery, although there were certainly pieces dating to the middle (Ipswich ware) and late (Thetford ware and St Neots ware) Saxon periods. The latter was associated with ditches to the north of the area, which appeared to define the rear boundaries of properties fronting Church Street. Only isolated features produced conclusively middle Saxon pottery. A small number of pits and a ditch were thought to be medieval, although dwellings had shifted elsewhere by this time. A number of post-medieval boundary ditches were also noted. These are thought to represent the boundary to 'Berrycroft', an undeveloped close in the centre of Willingham which existed prior to 1575."
A significant Anglo-Saxon settlement site was therefore recorded in advance of development. The analysis of the results remains unfinished and there is no report or publication. The premature discharge of the planning condition prevented enforcement action to secure the completion of the project.
- Willingham, High Street, Aileen Connor, in Fieldwork in Cambridgeshire: April 96 - July 97, Christopher Evans, Gavin Lucas, Tim Malim, and Twigs Way, in Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society vol LXXXV for 1996, 1997.
- Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit 1997, Early-Middle Anglo-Saxon Settlement at High Street, Willingham, Cambridgeshire: Draft Assessment and Post-Excavation Project Design. Unpublished report.
