An Anglo-Saxon Hut on the Car Dyke, at Waterbeach

Extract

Considerable interest attaches to the Car Dyke as it has been claimed as a Roman work by several authorities (Dr. Cyril Fox, Archaeology of the Cambridge Region, p. 179). In June of this year I attempted to make sure of the date by cutting a section through the fosse.

When a well was sunk through the bank of the dyke at the Lodge, Waterbeach, many years ago, the workmen cut through a boat of some kind. It seems reasonable to suppose that this boat dates from the time when the dyke was still full of water, and had been left moored in some little creek or dock probably near a settlement site. I therefore cut a section as near as possible to the well, that is, within a few yards of the south-east corner of the Lodge. It has not been possible to complete the section or reach the bottom of the ditch owing to the wet summer. The water-level was found at a depth of 4 ft. The section, however, cut through the middle of a small dwelling on the very lip of the ditch, debris from it forming a thin stratum separating different layers of silt. From the contents of the midden which formed the floor of the hut it was evident that the site was one of the Pagan Saxon Period.