Archaeological Excavations at Little Paxton Quarry Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire

Archaeological excavations at Little Paxton Quarry, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire were undertaken by MOLA between 2017 to 2021 and these were located near to both the River Great Ouse and the A1 (Great North Road).

Small quantities of pitting occurred in both the early and late Neolithic periods, followed by a single cremation deposit that dated to the early Bronze Age and a moderate sized middle Bronze Age cremation cemetery with 12 cremations deposits, one of which was urned. Two parallel late Bronze Age to early Iron Age pit alignments were recorded. Permanent occupation took place from the middle Iron Age period, with two settlements located 0.5km apart. One of these settlements continued into the middle Roman period.

Post-Roman evidence included two graves that formed part of a Saxon early medieval cemetery excavated in 2016 by Phoenix Consulting. In the medieval period the southern extent of the DMV Boughton settlement was found and these previously unknown remains were directly beyond the southern extent of the core of the hamlet, which is a Scheduled Monument. In the excavation this part of the hamlet dated from the 11th to at least the 14th century and comprised fields, paddocks and connecting routeways as well as a small area of possible domestic occupation.