East Anglian Archaeology 125: Life in the Loop: Investigation of a Prehistoric and Romano-British Landscape at Biddenham Loop, Bedfordshire

The Biddenham Loop has been the scene of human activity from the Palaeolithic through to the present-day, but the majority of the archaeological evidence spans the Neolithic to the early 4th century AD.

Field artefact collection provided valuable information on the location of late Mesolithic/early Neolithic and late Neolithic/early Bronze Age occupation. During the earlier period, activity was concentrated along the edge of the river terrace. In contrast, the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age flint concentrations were far more widespread, extending into the interior of the Loop.

A small number of probable Neolithic monuments, including rectangular and oval enclosures, were identified. Dating and function remain uncertain because the evidence for them derives mainly from non-intrusive survey. The high density of late Neolithic/early Bronze Age monuments, including thirty ring ditches, is suggestive of a ‘monument complex’, several of which have been identified along the Great Ouse.

Although the nature of any ‘settlement’ prior to the late Bronze Age is uncertain, thereafter the Biddenham Loop was continuously occupied until the end of the Romano-British period. The main area of late Bronze Age-early Iron Age settlement was unenclosed and quite extensive. It contained several concentrations of features including small pits, water pits and post-built structures. At this time, the first physical land division, in the form of a pit alignment, was constructed within the Biddenham Loop. This has the appearance of a single boundary, designed to ‘cut off’ the southern two thirds of the area enclosed by the river’s meander. However, traces of a second pit alignment have been identified to the south, closer to the river, suggesting that a more complex series of boundaries may await discovery.

Six unenclosed, early-middle Iron Age farmsteads were identified, all sharing similar topographical locations adjacent to but above the floodplain. Two were close to the earlier settlement, possibly suggesting some degree of continuity. The key identifying characteristic of each farmstead was the presence of a concentration of large storage pits.

All four late Iron Age/early Romano-British farmsteads were close to, but not in exactly the same location as, their predecessors. They were more extensive, although usually only comprised one ditched enclosure. Both cremation, including a cemetery, and inhumation burials occurred on the periphery of the settlement areas.

The four farmsteads continued to be occupied into the late 1st century AD, although they were augmented by extensive rectilinear systems of ditched enclosures. Most contained enclosures with settlement-type features but only one produced direct evidence for buildings in the form of roundhouses.

The farmsteads ceased to function by the early 4th century, although there is some non-intrusive survey evidence for Saxon activity on at least one of them. However, settlement within the Biddenham Loop effectively ceased as it became incorporated into Biddenham township’s open fields.

Life in the Loop is available from Oxbow books.