The Romano-British settlement on Bullocks Haste Common lies in the Cottenham area of Cambridgeshire, on the fen edge north of Cambridge. It was a substantial rural settlement occupied from the later 1st through 4th centuries AD, situated on a slight gravel ridge above the surrounding fenland, with field systems, droveways and enclosures spreading along the higher ground.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site sits within the densely settled fen-edge zone exploited intensively under Roman administration, likely engaged in mixed farming and stock-raising on the fen pastures, possibly tied to the imperial estate that some scholars have proposed for the Cambridgeshire fens. It forms part of a string of similar settlements along the Car Dyke corridor, which ran nearby and linked fenland production to wider distribution networks.
Aerial photography and fieldwalking have revealed cropmark enclosures, trackways and scatters of Romano-British pottery, tile and occasional metalwork across the common, with the site recorded in the Cambridgeshire HER as part of the Cottenham fen-edge complex investigated by figures including Cyril Fox and later surveys. No major modern excavation of Bullocks Haste itself has been published in detail, so much of the interpretation rests on surface evidence and comparison with excavated neighbours such as the Roman settlements at Cottenham and Willingham.
The Romano-British settlement on Bullocks Haste Common lies in the Cottenham area of Cambridgeshire, on the fen edge north of Cambridge. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Romano-British settlement on Bullocks Haste Common is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Romano-British Settlement at Chittering, Cambs (3.3 km), Roman site near Old Fordey Farm, Barway (9.2 km), Arbury Road (9.2 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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