Male burial at Arbury

Roman Burials at Arbury Road

History of Roman Burials at Arbury Road

In 1952 during excavation by Sindall Ltd, a massive stone coffin was discovered. it was determined that this is the site of a Romano-British cemetery used by occupants of villas and farmsteads adjoining Akeman Street. The most interesting feature was a chalk-built tomb erected over the body of a man who had been buried in a massive stone coffin with lead lining. the was another burial of a high status woman clearly associated with the man.

See Roman Burials at Arbury Road, 1952 by Clare Fell,Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1956.

Further Roman-British burials were found at Arbury Road in 1953.

1952 08 20
What may prove to be an important Roman discovery has been unearthed at a building site in Arbury Road, Cambridge. While excavating a trench for a new sewerage system Mr C. Taylor came across a coffin hewn out of solid stone. He lifted the lid, weighing many hundredweight, and there, completely enclosed in a lead lining was a complete skeleton. Nearby was another, also in good condition. It seems possible this was the burial place of an important Roman family as the stone must have been imported and the coffin enclosed in a layer of chalk – there is no chalk in the immediate area. Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Arbury and King’s Hedges Scrapbook 1897 to 1990.

1953 08 19
There have been several important archaeological finds of the Roman era on the Arbury Road building site. Traces of the Roman Road, Akeman Street, a cemetery, a building and extensive rubbish pits have all been unearthed. Two waterworks engineers found some pottery and a quantity of glass which had been imported from the Rhine. But some of this has been lost; it was left on the edge of a trench and has been taken by someone not knowing its historical value.
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Arbury and King’s Hedges Scrapbook 1897 to 1990.