Middle Anglo-Saxon Justice: the Chesterton Lane Corner execution cemetery and related sequence, Cambridge

Middle Saxon' Settlement and Society: The Changing Rural Communities of Central and Eastern England

“…The site, the exact location of which has been kept confidential to ensure that it is not targeted by night-hawkers, was identified through the recovery of numerous eighth-century sceattas (Blackburn and Sorenson 1984, 223-7;Scull 2002). The juxtaposition of the two sites conforms to the pattern recognised in Norfolk (Chapter VII), with 'productive sites' situated in close proximity to places that developed as important centres from the 'Late Saxon' period (Pestell 2003;Hutcheson 2006;Cessford 2007).…”

“…Haslam forwarded that the defended Roman town around Cambridge Castle was reoccupied during the eighth century, with an extra-mural market centre located to the north, preserved in the name Ashwyke (Haslam 1984b, 13-18;Taylor 1999, 43-5) The regular recovery of Ipswich Ware from this area supports this hypothesis, but more significant 'Middle Saxon' activity has been located closer to the River Cam. A keyhole excavation at Chesterton Lane Corner revealed evidence for an execution cemetery dated between the seventh to ninth centuries, with a floruit of use most likely occurring in the eighth century (Figure 6.18) (Cessford and Dickens 2005;Cessford 2007). The cemetery was situated outside of the Roman town but at a nodal point in the landscape, parallel to the Roman road leading north from the crossing over the River Cam (Cessford 2007, 223).…”