Archaeology | Shelfordhistory

Archaeological finds in Little Shelford

Artefacts found in Little Shelford

Map of archaeological discoveries in Little Shelford

Archaeological report carried out for M11 widening (external link)

Fanny Wale book on archaeological finds

Cambs History on archaeological finds in Little Shelford

Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Record

Cambridgeshire Historic Designation List

Bronze Age axe

A Bronze Age palstave, or early bronze axe, was found at Rectory Farm, Little Shelford. The axe dates from 2500 BC to 701 BC. It was presented to a museum.

Iron Age settlement

Settlement north west of Little Shelford Early Iron Age to 5th century Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD.

A series of settlement sites of Iron age and Roman British. By railway line on Hauxton road. (use map pic) This extensive enclosure complex lies on level arable fields that show no surface evidence of its existence.

Scheduled ancient monument north west of Little Shelford (off Hauxton Road) “the aeriel photpgraph shows an iron age and roman british settlement site with square and circular enclosures.”

There is still evidence of Iron Age and Roman occupation close to both sides of the River Cam and which is visible from aerial photographs.

The most significant Iron Age and Roman archaeological remains are the settlements situated to the north-east and south west of the present-day rail line. The sites now remain as a crop mark and a palimpsest of Iron Age round huts and rectangular enclosures, with evidence of continuing settlement into the Roman period.

Environmental evidence shows an agriculture based on wheat, barley and peas, and cattle grazed on water meadows; Crop marks and palimpsests are something of a rarity due to coprolite mining around Cambridgeshire, and the preservation of the Little Shelford sites is nationally important.

D-shaped enclosure, 6 circular enclosures (? possibly barrow circles), linear ditch and pits. b) Complex of enclosures, ditches and pits. The site lies north of the railway

Roman coin hoard

A hoard of 44 coins "from Shelford" contains 4 of Claudius II, 1 of Gallienus, 18 of Victorinus, 6 of Tetricus I, and 1 of Tetricus II, along with others not identified. The latest coins belong to the y ears 270 - 273 AD. Now in the CAAM.

Roman kiln

1990 M11 survey. “south of the Shelford Road lies an area of Roman kilns discovered during construction of the M11.”

Saxon cemetery 410 to 700 AD

Burials of the pagan Anglo Saxon period were discovered in a sand-pit close to the River Cam and opposite the mill at Little Shelford. An associated find of saucer-brooches, a 'Kentish' shape buckle, and beads are in CAAM. There are drawings of the Artefacts found in Little Shelford

Vikings in Shelford

The transition of Anglo-Saxon rule to the Viking Danelaw had a big effect on the village. As an outpost at the edge of the Danelaw, lying within a region of great conflict, Little Shelford became an important strategic location. The Vikings who sacked Cambridge are known to have wintered at Shelford. At the time, only a single village (Shelford) existed, and debate remains as to whether the ‘wintering’ site refers to the present-day Little Shelford or Great Shelford.

However there is a strong argument for Little Shelford as the site, as a settlement here would control the river ford, the topmost navigation point, and the Minster. The half-mile island in the river near present-day Little Shelford, now referred as the Hermitage, would have also provided a good site for keeping boats and securing an army. We know that Vikings used a similar location for this purpose on the River Trent.

Shelford mint

There are also indications of a working coinage mint at Shelford. Coinage from this mint is extremely rare, but coins have been found in the Cuerdale horde excavated in 1905 next to the River Ribble at Cuerdale in Lancashire, issued in the name of Earl Sihtric by somebody called Gundibert working at a mint in ‘Sceldfor’ (in modern English, ‘Shelford’).

This horde is thought to have been deposited between 903 and 910AD. The addition of a Danish mint and encampment to our picture of Little Shelford, along with the Anglo-Saxon Minster, demonstrates the village’s centrality to Viking trade and economy.

Wale book on archaeological finds

"It was in the middle of this field (in Whittlesford Road) that parts of a skeleton were found in May 1904. Pharoah-Hacker was digging stones and found it in a sitting position only two feet below the grass. There were enough bits of the skull, teeth and arm bones to be examined so Dr Wherry and Prof McKenny Hughes came from Cambridge to see them and decided that they were the remains of a Saxon woman. Besides the bones were two brass shoulder broaches, in good preservation, a metal buckle, and bits of a rusty instrument, also a number of painted amber beads. These things have been preserved but the bones were reburied."

From A Record of Shelford Parva by Fanny Wale P16

An excerpt from A Record of Shelford Parva by Fanny Wale setting out some archaeological finds in Little Shelford.

Artefacts

Map of archaeological finds in Little Shelford

map

Cambs history on archaeological finds in Shelford

There are remains of a pagan Anglo-Saxon cemetery near to the river, south-east of the bridge. The village of Little Shelford grew up west of there, around the point where the Whittlesford road turns east to cross the river. It spread from a nucleus near the ford, including the manor house and church, westwards along Church Street and southwards from the west end of Church Street along the modern High Street, known in the early 19th century as Thames Street Road.

Cambs