The archaeological dig is underway on the site of the future Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital - a ground-breaking new hospital that will change the story of cancer forever.
A collaboration between Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, the hospital will bring together patients and medical teams, as well as academic and industry researchers into one building, to transform the lives of cancer patients – not just in Cambridge and the East of England, but worldwide.
Preparatory groundworks are taking place on the site, on the corner of Keith Day Road and Robinson Way. This prime location on Europe’s largest biomedical campus, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, is next to Addenbrooke’s, AstraZeneca and Royal Papworth Hospital. Excavators have removed 18,000 cubic metres of soil from the raised former staff car park and the team from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) have been uncovering the site’s rich history.
The archaeologists have unearthed evidence - largely pottery and animal remains - from a rural settlement dating back to the Iron Age and Roman period around two thousand years ago. The site was part of a landscape of small farms and enclosure ditches for animals, mainly cattle, as well as countryside homes tasked with producing food for the wider Cambridgeshire area.
Watch: Chris Wakefield, Archaeologist from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR_2cJOXNKc
Chris Wakefield, Archaeologist from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said: “What we have found on the Cancer Hospital site is really special because it solidifies the work we have been doing in this area on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus for almost 20-25 years."
"This is a landscape people have been using and living in for thousands of years, and Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital is just going to be the latest chapter of the story."
Chris Wakefield, Archaeologist, Cambridge Archaeological Unit
Chris continued: “One of the real ‘stand out’ finds for me has been unexpected; we found a beautiful Anglo-Saxon comb that dates back to the 8th to 11th centuries. It was a really stunning find.
“It’s a real privilege for us as archaeologists to be working on projects like this, because not only are we part of a really important development that will be valuable to so many people, but it also allows us to share the history of the site with the patients who will be using it in the future.”
Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital has been designed in partnership with cancer patients and staff, who are using their lived experience to help shape the plans and build of the facility. Paul Middleton is a member of the project’s Patient Advisory Group (PAG), helping the team make crucial decisions about how the new hospital will operate and look. After spending a fulfilling career in archaeology, Paul was invited onto the site to see the pre-construction works ongoing for the Cancer Hospital, including the archaeological dig.
"The opportunity to give back really is a wonderful privilege." Watch Paul Middleton's interview, Patient Representative for Cambridge Cancer Resarch Hospital
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Q-nVYVgkk&feature=youtu.be
Standing on the site Paul said: “It feels very special. This is a new NHS hospital that will provide specialist care for the region, and beyond. Seeing the archaeology today shows an ancient equivalent of a local farmstead servicing a wider area, and it’s amazing to see how the past is reborn in that ongoing story for the new Cancer Hospital.
“I lost my mother and wife to cancer. I live with cancer myself, which is being managed, but it can never be cured. I owe my life to the support of Addenbrooke’s and Peterborough City Hospital, so the opportunity to give back, to a building that will benefit hundreds of thousands of people, nationally and internationally, it really is a wonderful privilege.”
Paul Middleton, Patient
Archaeology is an important part of the construction process for any building site to enable developers to gain a significant understanding of the wider historical landscape. Anything of archaeological interest is being carefully excavated.
The Cambridge Archaeological Unit will write detailed reports of the archaeological finds before handing over the historic materials to the local authority’s Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team (CHET) (opens in a new tab). The information is built into a story and archived, and the artefacts donated to Cambridgeshire County Council will later be made available for research.