Students reports

The Giant's Grave site is a fascinating location filled with wonder. It's a strange place in Cherry Hinton near the Robin Hood pub. Owned by the CCC but previously owned by the house across the Cherry Hinton brook, Giant's Grave is a small patch of grass and a pool in a natural dip in the land shrouded from view of the Cherry Hinton High Street by tall flowers and taller trees. The foliage is rich, luscious and plentiful, like a jungle.

In the middle of the pool is an island, probably man-made from the Edwardian or Elizabethan period, for use probably as mere decoration or a romantic escape. Long ago it was a prime location for washing laundry, due to the fact that the water from the brook was very pure after being filtered through the porous chalk. As a result the water is clear to the bottom of the pool, it's the bottom that's less clear, littered with modern debris such as cans of soft drink.

The trees look no more than two hundred years old, and were probably planted (artificially or naturally) after the island was made. A rubbish bin has been cunningly hidden beneath a tree so as not to disturb the tranquility of the site, but it is rare for it to be used and even rarer for it to be emptied.

There used to be a bridge across the pond, but it has collapsed, leaving only a few pieces of forgotten masonry in its absence which can't even be used as stepping stones.

About June 1989 a group of children got together and cleaned out the pond of all the debris which had collected since then, and laid it by the bank for Council workmen to pick up. Unfortunately, before they arrived, some vandals threw it all back in, but this story ended well. The vandals were caught and fined £400, and the Council cleaned out the pond again and took the rubbish to the tip. So the site is relatively clean, pleasant and hiding several archaeological secrets.

Justin

Last March we went down to Giants Grave in Cherry Hinton. Two trenches were opened, one on the slope and one near the mound.

In the first trench, the one on the slope, we were discovering literally bucketfuls of finds. It was just a case of scraping off the topsoil and picking up what we could find. As well as all the modern things, there were lots of older pieces of pottery. There was also plenty of slag and charcoal, which suggest that something was either burnt here or was burnt somewhere else and the rubble deposited here to form the slope. I personally think the latter and that this is where the remains of the old pub that burnt down about 50 years ago were buried.

The second trench was extremely difficult. Though it was bigger and deeper than the first trench, it was barely turning out any finds at all. Every time I thought I had found something, it turned out to be a root or stone. The trench was more interesting because we got to use the hoe and shovel, where before it was not needed. Graham, the professional archaeologist, did find one thing. It was a piece of bone, which was probably human. Overall I think the visit was a big success and I hope to be going back soon.

Miles