Cambourne and Bourn Airfield
Archaeology and Development at Cambourne and Bourn Airfield
The Cambourne and Bourn Airfield area carries large-scale housing delivery on West Cambridgeshire clayland, a landscape long assumed to be archaeologically quiet and repeatedly shown not to be.
- Authority
- Greater Cambridge Shared Planning
- Landscape
- West Cambridgeshire boulder clay
- Common error
- Assuming clayland has low potential
- Cost driver
- Area of ground disturbance
The landscape
Boulder clay uplands west of Cambridge. For many years these claylands were treated as marginal, but sustained development-led fieldwork across the region has shown extensive later prehistoric and Roman land division and settlement on exactly this ground. Former airfield infrastructure adds localised truncation.
What it means for your development
The practical risk here is assuming low potential. An evaluation designed on the assumption that clayland is empty tends to produce a surprise at mitigation stage, which is the most expensive place to find one. Building the assumption of moderate potential into the programme from the start is cheaper than reacting to it later.
Questions
Common questions on this
Is heavy clay really likely to contain archaeology?
Yes. Development-led work across the West Cambridgeshire claylands has consistently recorded prehistoric and Roman land use. Low visibility is not the same as low potential.
Project review
Developing at Cambourne and Bourn Airfield?
Send the planning position and the site plan. We will set out the likely archaeological requirement, the sequence and where the programme risk sits.