Roman and Medieval Remains at Rectory Farm, Great Gransden.

Between December 2012 and January 2013 Oxford Archaeology East carried out an archaeological excavation on land adjacent to Rectory Farm, to the south-west of the parish church in Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire (NGR TL 27036 55567). The excavation, undertaken in advance of the installation of a ground source heat pump, revealed a sequence of recut boundaries, pits, ponds, wells and possible buildings spanning the Roman to post-medieval periods. The type of archaeology and relatively low levels of finds indicate that the site lay on the periphery of settlement during the Roman and Late Saxon to medieval periods, although the identification of a possible SFB (and an unassociated sherd of Middle Saxon pottery) makes an important addition to the poorly-understood history of the early development of the village. The main structural remains in the western part of the site probably relate to buildings and boundaries associated with College Farm, as Rectory Farm was formerly known when it was owned by Clare College (Cambridge), that are shown on late 18th and 19th century maps.