Archaeology

The search for Cratendune continues though evidence that any one site is the lost village remains sparse. In 1999 there was media attention during preparation work for new buildings at West Fen Road, Ely. The archaeology work subsequently undertaken indeed shows Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon occupation. However, it was shown that the site was still active in the 13th century and there were no signs of an earlier Anglo-Saxon settlement here. This makes the West Fen Road site an unlikely Cratendune location.

During World War II whilst constructing an aerodrome at Witchford

Witchford

Witchford is a small village near Ely in Cambridgeshire, England.Witchford houses the secondary school Witchford Village College that serves all of the surrounding villages, including Haddenham, Little Thetford, Mepal, Stretham, Sutton, Wilburton and Witcham.The village hosts the Grunty Fen Half...

, near Little Thetford

Little Thetford

Little Thetford is a small village and civil parish south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat fenland countryside, typical of settlements in this part of the East of England...

, a cemetery was discovered. Major Gordon Fowler reports witnessing a bulldozer levelling off ground and in so doing was crushing skeletons. The urgent war effort could not be stopped so little archaeological work could be undertaken. He was however able to recover some objects from the graves, which were later dated by Lethbridge to be consistent with the period AD 450–650. Recent survey work has not repeated the 1943 report of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery here, instead finding Iron-Age and Roman period domestic and other remains. It has been suggested that an Anglo-Saxon settlement within Ely was perhaps more spread out, being no single core settlement.

External links

• Cratendune Controversy