Remember Cambridge
Open For Bookings May 2024
Today Cambridge is most famous for its University. But Cambridge’s history dates back centuries before the University was established in 1208. This series will explore the history of settlements on the site of Cambridge right through from as early as 360,000 BC until the modern day. Read on for an introduction to why Cambridge was a popular place to settle and a history of the site until the end of the Roman occupation in Britain in 410 AD.
If you look closely you will realise Cambridge was the perfect place to build a settlement. It is on the edge of the fens: a large flat expanse of fenland. Until the fens were drained it was a huge area of wet marshland and small rivers. The site of Cambridge lay at a convenient crossing point of what is now called the ‘Cam’ river.
This made it perfect for transport. Back in the day the cheapest, and quickest, mode of transport was by boat. The river Cam and the River Ouse acted as an artery through the fens connecting Cambridge to the sea at King’s Lynn and linking with all the smaller rivers crossing the fenland. Geography was crucial to the city’s success as a trading centre. It was simultaneously the furthest downstream that a bridge could be built and the highest that cargo boats could be unloaded.
Cambridge was also a great location for a settlement for another reason. One you may find hard to believe looking around the city: its height… Castle Hill is the highest point in Cambridge. And because the surrounding area is so flat it is also one of the highest points for miles around. It is alleged that if you start at the top of the hill and walk straight north there is no higher point between Castle Hill and the North Pole.
But why is it important to settle on the highest point?
Having control of the highest point gives power over the surrounding area. It provided a good viewpoint of incoming attacks and the best angle to shoot arrows down onto the enemy. But it also looks dominant and shows everyone that whoever built the castle has the power in the area. This was crucial for preventing rebellions.
The evidence for ancient Cambridge unfortunately now lies underneath the city itself. But excavations have revealed evidence of settlements here dating back thousands of years.
Archaeological evidence of the earliest traces of human habitation lie beneath the layers of gravel deposited in the last ice age. Cambridge’s location in a valley has meant it is one of the few places in the country where these layers of gravel lie undisturbed. Therefore there is plenty of evidence of human habitation lying more than 15 metres below ground level.
The oldest finds in the area are near the Huntingdon Road. Here hand axes and flake scrapers have been found dating back to between 360-130,000 BC. Other sites include a quarry at Barnwell with finds dating back to 105-12,000 BC. These include an elephant rib-bone worked by humans!
By the Neolithic Age it was possible for people to settle in one area and have houses due to the introduction of farming, pottery and stone tools. Evidence of settlements are scattered under the city. For example underneath Jesus College Library and Trinity College accommodation on Burrell’s Walk. When these were being built investigations revealed scatters of waste flint and pot boilers.
During the Bronze Age populations began to grow and so evidence of human habitation increased. Two large hoards of bronze tools have been found in Chesterton. Plus, the area is filled with bronze age burials. A group of Bronze Age pots near the river on Midsummer Common are believed to be grave goods with a similar find nearby under Elizabeth Way Bridge.
Farming settlements began to be widely established in the Cam Valley. At this point the area was not yet a floodland as it would be in later centuries. Evidence shows that the population of the area was rising fast leading to competition for land. Cambridge was sited on the boundary of several territorial units.
By the Late Iron Age these tribes were beginning to enter the written record due to interactions with Rome. The principal tribes were: the Trinovantes from Colchester, the Catuvellauni from Verulamium and the Iceni of Norfolk. As a result, evidence of farming in Cambridge is dwarfed by the number of Iron Age forts. Such fortifications have been found in Arbury, Cherry Hinton and most notably Wandlebury Hill Fort.
But the major settlement in Cambridge of the Late Iron Age was a defended village on Castle Hill. This site can be seen as the original ‘Cambridge’, later to be settled by the Romans and eventually develop into the city it is today…
Many of these archaeological finds can be found in the Cambridge University Museums. Most notably the Sedgwick Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
England changed dramatically when it was conquered by the Romans. By the end of the Iron Age the settlement on Castle Hill was a seat of power for the local area.
It was a perfect place for the Romans to adopt: a defensive position commanding a major river crossing and meeting point of several roads. The Romans adapted the town to their needs, adding in a fort. They also added some ditches, notably one at the bottom of Castle Hill believed to be 2m deep and 3.6m wide.
By the 2nd century AD Roman Cambridge was emerging as the centre of the entire region. To reflect its new civilian role the site was reorganised. It was levelled, with fort ditches and evidence of the Iron Age site filled in.
Roman Cambridge, or Duriloponte as it was known, was large. It was believed to have spanned at least 49 acres. But it lacked any official buildings or much urban life. But roads and cemeteries remained used throughout the period and excavations by the river suggest trade was carried out with boats from the fens.
Late in Roman occupation of Britain, turbulent events in the Empire led to towns becoming enclosed by defensive walls. Cambridge was very late to be walled in, but the building of these gave it the status of a Roman small town. The design is believed to have been by an Imperial or provincial ruler as at the same time the town was reorganised and settlement density increased.
So there we have it. A very quick rundown of around 300,000 years of Cambridge history. A period where Cambridge very slowly developed as a central settlement for trade and defence in the surrounding area. But in c.410 AD the Romans left Britain and the country was to enter the ‘Dark Ages’.
The end of Roman Cambridge remains a mystery. There are no signs of violence or of widespread burning of the buildings. No Anglo-Saxon finds are located amongst the evidence of the Roman era. Instead, 15-30cm of black earth cover the Roman features separating them from the Anglo-Saxon remains.
Read the next post in the series to hear how Cambridge navigated its way through the Dark Age of Europe.