Cropmark of possible Iron Age drainage ditches, north of Littlebury (EHER 83368)

The cropmark of a possible Iron Age multiple ditch system can be seen on Historic England Reconnaissance aerial photographs taken in July 2015. This consists of three parallel ditches that run west for approximately 1km from the River Cam. The surrounding landscape depicts cropmarks of geological drainage systems and the proposed triple-ditch system shares a similar alignment with the natural drainage systems. If archaeological, it is perhaps a man-made attempt at manipulating an existing riverine system.

NRHE data transfer: The cropmark of a possible Iron Age multiple ditch system can be seen on Historic England Reconnaissance aerial photographs taken in July 2015. This consists of three parallel ditches that run from the River Cam in the east (TL 5178 4015), along a coombe toward higher ground to TL 5075 3999, a distance of approximately 1km. <1> Note: The mapped location represents the approximate location of the cropmark features. Information added after NRHE data transfer: Three irregular but parallel ditches which curve slightly to the south along their course from east to west between the two given NGRs, can be seen on 2026 aerial imagery via Bing maps. The surrounding landscape to the north and south depicts cropmarks of geological drainage systems which are probably associated with the nearby River Granta to the east, that runs broadly north-south. The proposed triple-ditch system discussed above shares a similar alignment to these geological drainage systems and, if archaeological, is perhaps a man-made attempt at manipulating an existing riverine system. Lidar imagery supports the interpretation that the features are water-related as they are situated in the lowest part of the contours. In Google Earth imagery from 2018, they display a similar signature to the east-west aligned feature to the south, which can be more confidently intepreted as a natural drainage channel. It is unclear why the NRHE have attributed an Iron Age date to the ditches. <2> <3> <4>