Possibly 2nd-4th century walled enclosure, 'Second Walled Enclosure', to the south-east of the 4th century town, Great Chesterford (EHER 13922)

A second walled enclosure located immediately to the south of the main town walls (EHER 4915) had been described by the antiquarians Horsley and Dr Foote Gower in the 19th century. It was later again postulated by A.E. Collins in the 20th century who referred to it as the 'stone fort'. There has been significant excavation in the area between All Saints' Church and the River Cam to provide evidence for a walled enclosure of between 1.2ha and 1.4ha in extent, which is delineated by the Cam to the south, and a flint and mortar wall parallel with Church Street to the north and roughly bound to Newmarket Road on its west. The circuit of the east extent of the wall is uncertain, but Collins suggested it ran alongside the Roman road to Braughing, whilst a magnetometer survey in 2000 (EHER 83292) and evidence for the wall in the structure of the Old Vicarage (EHER 83289) suggest it may follow the line of the present east wall of the churchyard. The date of the structure is similarly unknown, but it was probably constructed after the 1st century fort (EHER 4942) and before the 4th century town walls (EHER 4915) at sometime in the 2nd-4th centuries. It is equally unclear if the Second Walled Enclosure was intended to provide a defensive purpose, or if it instead had a spatial significance, delimiting an area of possible ritual or religious significance. The excavated evidence for the wall is summarised here, whilst monument records for the activity within the enclosure are linked to this record as 'child' records.

There are antiquarian descriptions of a second walled enclosure located immediately to the south of the main town walls (EHER 4915). Horsley, in 1732, described an ancient Roman square fort at the east end of the main town wall. He postulated that the churchyard wall enclosed it to one side and the river to another, with the mill at the corner. Dr Foote Gower, a local 18th century antiquarian, also noted the probable presence of another 'encampment' near the church. He similarly desrcibed an 'old wall' on the right hand side of the road between the mill and Gardiners [now The Crown] which delineated one side; 'an inconsiderable bank' delineated another and the third side was marked by the river, where he records the discovery of 'made wall'. <1> A second walled stone enclosure, to the south-east of the main Roman town enclosure was also postulated by A.E. Collins of the Great Chesterford Archaeology Group. He suggests that there was a second century walled enclosure, the stone from which was robbed at a later date for construction material for the fourth century town wall. He suggests that the walls of this second enclosure ran alongside the Roman road to Braughing and the present-day Church Street to the east and north, with its southern circuit to the north of the river Cam. The course of its eastern circuit is pure conjecture. <2> <3> There have been several archaeological interventions in the area of the probable walled enclosure. This record draws together the archaeological evidence for the enclosure and activity on its interior, in chronological order of discovery. It also provides links to relevant records where you can find more information on each intervention. The below text draws upon the summary delivered in Chapter 4 of source <1>, which deals with the extramural settlement at Great Chesterford. <4> Evidence for the walled enclosure: In 1934, L. Cobbett noted 'a bank running along the river bank contained Roman brick and mortar, is likely to have been the southern wall of the Danish camp'. See EHER 83288. In 1982 a watching brief on an extension at Mill Cottage revealed foundations which were originally interpreted as part of the 4th century town wall (EHER 4915) but are more likely to be the west wall of this second enclosure. See EHER 4941. In 1986 or 1996, A.E. Collins identified a substantial foundation of flint and mortar, about 3m wide, under the churchyard wall, mid-way along the northern side of the churchyard. <4> See EHER 83289. In 1996 P. Dey sought to locate the southern wall of the enclosure, but recovered only a mixed Roman finds assemblage amongst post-medieval material. See EHER 83288. In 1999 a flint nodule wall bonded with mortar and rendered with mortar on the south-western face was recorded at the gateway of the churchyard. See EHER 18906. Similar material was also noted by the excavator as preserved in the wall plate of a 15th century building, The Old Vicarage, see EHER 83286. Trial trenching, probably in late 1999, recorded further flint foundations against the boundary wall of the Old Vicarage and churchyard, see EHER 83287. In 2000 a geophysical survey recorded a possible section of the eastern wall, though excavation is required to confirm if this is the case. See EHER 83292. While the archaeological evidence for the Second Walled Enclosure is ambiguous, what there is largely supports the antiquarian descriptions. There is sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of a substantial Roman wall foundation underlying the northern churchyard wall, and this can be tentatively traced to the west underneath Mill Cottages and to the east under the Old Rectory. The southern limit of this enclosure is as yet unproven; indeed, it is possible that the river itself formed the southern side of the circuit. The area enclosed is roughly rectangular between 1.2 ha and 1.4ha in extent. The date of the enclosure is unknown, except that the construction technique and materials are all Roman in character. It is unlikely that two substantial walled enclosures were constructed at Great Chesterford at the same time, and so it follows that the Second Walled Enclosure must have either preceded or post-dated the construction of the mid-late 4th century town wall. Whilst there is evidence for continued occupation at Great Chesterford into the early 5th century and subsequent Saxon occupation in the mid-5th century, it is further considered to be unlikely that the Second Walled Enclosure post-dates the town wall. Furthermore, the Second Walled Enclosure appears, unlike the main town wall, to have been substantially robbed by the early post-medieval period. If the Second Walled Enclosure preceded the construction of the town wall, it could plausibly have been used as a source of building material for the town wall itself, lending itself to a date somewhere between the 2nd-4th centuries. The finds certainly suggest occupation of the site from the late 1st–early 2nd century until the early 5th century, with the majority of the finds, particularly the coins, belonging to the mid–late 4th century. Why the area was enclosed at all is uncertain. In no other ‘small town’ in Britain has an area other than the main town area had such a substantial enclosing wall. It is possible that the Second Walled Enclosure was constructed for reasons of defence, perhaps related to the troubled times of the later 3rd century, a period that is marked by the building of town walls elsewhere in Britain. Alternatively the enclosure wall may have been intended to delimit a space rather than to provide defence, and given the nature of the finds from its interior (see comments below), the tentative suggestion is that it may have enclosed a religious or ritual centre and should therefore be viewed as a rather substantial temple precinct wall. This interpretation may lend itself nicely to explaining the subsequent development of the area into an early Saxon mixed rite cemetery and the site of a postulated Saxon minster church, and later the site of the medieval parish church. <4> Evidence for activity within the walled enclosure is recorded as individual monuments which are linked to this record as 'child' records. The activity comprises several considerably deep pits or 'shafts', some possibly with a ritual association (EHER 4951, EHER 13897); a number of structures, including two phases of a building in the area of the churchyard (EHER 45202) and at least one substantial structure close to the river (EHER 83267, see also EHER 4968 and EHER 83319); and inhumations (EHER 13923, EHER 16398, and EHER 83311), as well as findspots of coins, metal hoards and pottery. There is also reasonable evidence to suggest a Roman watermill by the river (EHER 83333). NRHE data transfer: "Besides the large camp or city (at Chesterford) a smaller may be traced by the church". <5> April 1950. Field survey. No trace found, area now built over. <6>