Cambridge Archaeology Field Group

Excavation at Wimpole Hall 1999 1

In July 1999 the Group excavated the brick foundations of a substantial 18th century 'Summer house' in the grounds of the National Trust owned Wimpole Hall near to Cambridge. The site was one of a pair of Summer houses whose location was known from parch marks in the current grassland. Design plans and drawings from the early 18th century of the proposed buildings showed multi angle buildings which did not correspond to the square outline of the parch marks. No drawings or paintings exist showing what was actually built, but it is known that they were built circa 1721 and deliberately destroyed circa 1767 when landscaping of the park was done.

The excavations revealed brick foundations for a square building approximately 6 metres by 6 metres which had a depth of 1.2 metres and were up to 1.0 metre wide. These substantial foundations probably indicate that the house was more than single story.

Sparse evidence of the walls etc was found, but fragments of window glass and a few pieces of structural limestone suggest that the house was substantial. Two small finds were of particular interest, the first the broken base of a typical 18th century glass black bottle lying in the demolition rubble, possibly deposited by one of the demolition workers after he had drunk his pint of ale. The second was an unusual find of a Neolithic tanged flint arrow head probably redeposited when the site was covered over with earth during the subsequent landscaping.