Modern or earlier quarry at the rear of 5 London Road, Great Chesterford (EHER 47068)

An evaluation in 2010 recorded evidence to suggest this location was formerly used for quarrying. It suggested the quarry was not backfilled until the 20th century, but it was not possible to say when it was first in use.

February 2010. Trial trenching. A single evaluation trench was excavated through the footprint of a proposed new dwelling within an area of garden to the rear of 5 London Road, Great Chesterford. Observation was also undertaken on the excavation of two engineers test-pits. The location of the new dwelling was in the steeply sloping southern half of the garden where the land dropped over 3m in height from south-west to north-east. The lower northern half of the garden was flat. The existing topography and the results of the trenching suggest that the proposed new dwelling is located in the immediate area of a back-filled gravel quarry. Presumably the extent of the quarry broadly mirrors the position of the existing slopes within the development area, but may also have extended into the properties to the north-west of the evaluation trench where the ground level appears to have been artificially levelled. No dating evidence for the quarry was recovered although a preponderance of modern material suggests that it may not have been completely infilled until the 20th century. No archaeological features or artefacts of an earlier date were encountered. Remains associated with the Late Iron Age/Roman/Saxon settlement are either absent in this vicinity or have been removed by the later quarrying. <1>