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Our Society was set up in 2008 as a result of village interest in the archaeological excavations that were taking place on the Recreation Ground in preparation for the build of our new pavilion. After an initial trench evaluation two excavations areas were opened within the footprint of the new sports pavilion (Area A) and the MUGA (Area B). Both areas were test-pitted first at the level of a preserved early soil, Area A then saw full excavation to the level of the underlying natural subsoil while no further excavation was undertaken on Area B as this area was to be ‘preserved in situ‘. An assemblage of about 600 sherds of pottery, over half of it Early to Middle Saxon, was recovered from the test pits, along with animal bone, metalwork and Neolithic flint.

The full excavation of Area A saw seventeen burials excavated, all dated to the latter half of the sixth century. The burials included both sexes and all age groups. Eight of the burials contained multiple grave goods, the most common being twinned saucer brooches with strings of beads, chiefly amber. Bone combs, wrist clasps, square-headed and great square-headed, annular and disc brooches were also recovered. Four of the burials held smaller finds assemblages, a knife or single brooch, and five contained either no grave goods or a single large pot sherd.

The burials belonged to a larger cemetery of then unknown extent, part of which had been excavated in 1994, and were set within a palimpsest of Roman, Early to Late Saxon and medieval ditches. Two of the burials recorded in the evaluation remained unexcavated, again supposedly to be preserved in situ, and two more burials were recorded in a watching brief on a service trench, bringing the total number then known to twenty-one. Twenty-five burials, including a single cremation, were recorded in the 1994 excavations.

The society is the custodian of the ‘Village Archive’ which is gradually being copied and transcribed, in order to build this website into a comprehensive history of the villages of Oakington & Westwick. We as a society are indebted to the hard work and tenacity of Ralph Warboys and Terry Chapman who between them built up a great deal of material and photographs that formed the basis of our archive. Over the past decade we have endevoured to carry on this work and the archive has grown considerably since the society was formed.