Causewayed enclosure 900m west of Great Wilbraham parish church

Great Wilbraham causewayed enclosure stands on a flat stretch of land in the valley of the Little Wilbraham River, east of Cambridge. The site covers about two hectares and is ringed by two circular ditches roughly twenty metres apart. Each ditch is broken by several gaps, or causeways, of undug ground. The enclosure sits on a sandy terrace in Little Wilbraham Fen, a small wetland linked to the larger Fens by a stream. Aerial photographs taken in 1972 first revealed the earthworks as cropmarks. The site was later protected as a scheduled monument in 1976. Neolithic communities built such enclosures across Britain between about 3700 BC and 3500 BC. Their exact purpose remains unclear, but they may have served as meeting places, trading sites or ritual centres. Excavations led by David Clarke in 1975 uncovered flint tools, pottery from many periods, and animal bones mostly from cattle. Radiocarbon dating showed that some finds had slipped into older layers, complicating the picture. Clarke’s team also took a pollen column spanning five thousand years of peat deposits. Though Clarke died in 1976, later analysis of the finds and records published in 2006 shed more light on the site. Visitors walk across the grassy enclosure, tracing the lines of the two ditches and their many causeways. The flat ground slopes gently toward the old river course, giving wide views across the fenland. The circular shape of the ditches contrasts with the straight sections between the gaps. Nearby fields have been examined for other prehistoric features, though none have been confirmed. The site offers a quiet place to imagine Neolithic people gathering, trading cattle or leaving offerings in the ditches. The sandy soil and peat layers preserve traces of their activities beneath the surface.