The Catherine Needham Building, King’s Ely School, Ely (EKS24(1), ECB7357), Archaeological Monitoring 2025: Cambridge Archaeological Unit Digital Archive

Archaeological monitoring of two phases of work were carried out by Cambridge Archaeological Unit at the Catherine Needham Building, King’s School, Ely. The first phase of work occurred the 9th July 2024, and comprised the archaeological monitoring of geotechnical investigations. The second phase occurred between the 14th and 21st of July, 2025, and comprised archaeological monitoring during the excavation of three foundation trenches. Monitoring of both phases of groundwork were commissioned by King’s Ely, School and overseen by their consultant Matthew Payne, Hollins. Roland Harris (Ely Cathedral Archaeologist) assisted in the overseeing the 2024 geotechnical investigation. Geotechnical investigations (2024) were undertaken by EPS and Groundwork was undertaken by JK Construction 2025. Archaeological monitoring identified a heavily truncated and disturbed soil profile. There was an overall absence of historic, or earlier, soil deposits across the majority of the area with disturbed natural geological layers directly overlain by a series of modern ‘made ground’ horizons. Natural geology occurred at approximately 0.5m depth (c.17.30–17.40m OD). Despite considerable modern truncation at the site, a substantial brick-built, below-ground, ancillary building survived. This structure directly adjoined the northwest-facing wall of the Catherine Needham building and its brickwork and in-situ contents were consistent with a 19th century date. It is concluded that the ancillary structure dates to 1885 when the adjoining part of the Catherine Needham Building was built. The digital archive comprises: PDF/A copies of the written scheme of investigation (WSI) and the monitoring reports (2024 and 2025); CSV tables of the context registers (2024 and 2025); stratigraphic logs, the finds catalogue and specialist tables (2025), and copies of the original photographs included in the 2025 report (.tif files).