A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme
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Coasts in Mind
Coasts in Mind is a pioneering new 3-year project made possible by a grant from The National Lottery Heritage...
MOLA–Headland Infrastructure (MHI) were commissioned by the A14 Integrated Delivery Team (IDT), on behalf of National Highways, to undertake the archaeological mitigation for the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme. The scheme was designed to improve the A14 trunk road in Cambridgeshire between Ellington (on the western outskirts of Huntingdon, TL 189 747) and Milton Junction (on the Cambridge Northern Bypass, TL 409 612). Excavations took place between 2016 and 2022, while post-excavation work on the project (including community engagement and archiving) was completed in early 2025
The A14 excavations were among the biggest and most complex ever undertaken in the UK, revealing important archaeology of prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and medieval date. The archaeological mitigation followed a programme of geophysical survey and trial trenching across the whole scheme. Areas of archaeological interest were defined as 30 'Targeted Excavation Areas' (TEAs) and totalled over 232ha.
MOLA-Headland Infrastructure (MHI) led a huge collaborative team on this work, including significant contributions by Oxford Archaeology, Cotswold Archaeology and Pre-Construct Archaeology. Stephen Sherlock was the lead archaeologist for the A14 IDT and all work was monitored by Kasia Gdaniec, Senior Archaeologist for Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team.
The results of the excavations have now been published and are available in the following formats:
A14 blogs
Popular book - Unearthing the A14: 50 objects from one of Britain’s biggest digs
Unearthing the A14: 50 objects from one of Britain’s biggest digs is available to purchase from the MOLA bookshop.
Excavations in advance of the A14 road improvement scheme in Cambridgeshire are among the biggest and most complex ever undertaken in the UK, revealing important archaeology of prehistoric, Roman, early medieval, medieval, and later date. The fifty finds in this book have been chosen for the stories they tell us. These artefacts are often the only evidence for many of the thousands of people who lived here before us. Some stand out as beautiful or rare, treasured heirlooms left as grave goods for the dead. Others tell us about ancient industry, and the lives of ordinary people from prehistory to today. Between them, we get a glimpse into the diversity of Cambridgeshire’s ancient past, and the vast scale of the A14 scheme.
Digital interactive - A14 roadtrip to the past
Take a digital road trip through time along the A14 and uncover incredible archaeology at every turn.
We’ve picked some of the most fascinating finds for you to explore, so come and discover the stories of ancient communities connected by today’s A14.
Internet Archaeology monograph - A Route Well Travelled.
A Route Well Travelled: The archaeology of the A14 Huntingdon to Cambridge Road Improvement Scheme is a monograph published by Internet Archaeology, which digs deeper into the results of the project.
West, E., Christie, C., Moretti, D, Scholma-Mason, O. and Smith, A. 2024 A Route Well Travelled. The Archaeology of the A14 Huntingdon to Cambridge Road Improvement Scheme, Internet Archaeology 67. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.67.22
This monograph is intended to act as gateway to the project's findings, synthesizing the results in a series of period-based chapters and linking back to the detailed site and specialist reports and the entire digital archive of the project hosted by the Archaeology Data Service.
A14 digital archive
The entire digital archive for the project has been deposited with the ADS (Archaeological Data Service)
MOLA Headland Infrastructure (2025) A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Improvement Scheme: Digital Archive for Archaeological Works [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1081262
