Eaton (Eau Brink) Peat Trackway (Cambridgeshire Fens)
Earith-Eaton Fen Causeway · River Great Ouse Fen Trackway
Bronze Age to Iron Age·Fenland Bronze Age / Iron Age (East Anglian)·🇬🇧 Cambridgeshire / Essex border, The Fens, Great Ouse floodplain near Earith, United Kingdom
About
About Eaton (Eau Brink) Peat Trackway (Cambridgeshire Fens)
Fen-edge timber trackway (18 m asl, 52°21′N 00°03′E approx 51.78,0.65 Many River fen edge) bridging the prehistoric fen causeway zone between dryland and Flag Fen basin (Flag Fen Bronze Age 1300 BCE) and later Flag Fen extension. Two phase track: Early Bronze 1800 BCE alder hurdle and Iron Age 800 BCE oak plank (Eaton-Earith analogues to Wittmoor XLII). Surface finds: beaver-gnawed timbers indicating beaver-managed fen mosaic. Excavated by Coles Fenland survey 1978; timbers waterlogged under fen peat 1.8 m. Extension of Sweet Track (Somerset 3800 BCE) fen tradition to eastern England fen.
Why it mattersFenland analogue to Sweet Track showing beaver-modified fen management.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Beaver co-management
Theories
- 01Fen island grazing route
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1800 BCE (alder hurdle) and c.800 BCE (oak plank refurb)
- Period
- Bronze Age to Iron Age
- Culture
- Fenland Bronze Age / Iron Age (East Anglian)
- Builders
- Fen-edge agropastoral communities
- Purpose
- Fen crossing to grazing islands and votive water edge
- Abandoned
- c.700 BCE (fen inundation)
- Rediscovered
- 1978 Fenland Coles survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1800 BCE
Alder hurdle laid
800 BCE
Oak plank refurb
1978
Coles Fenland project exposure
On the ground
Structures & features
51.7800° N · 0.6500° E · 18 m · 2 mapped features
Eaton Oak Plank Segment
structure2.2-m oak plank over hurdle foundation
51.7810° N · 0.6520° EGreat Ouse Hurdle Foundation
structureAlder hurdle panels 1.5 m under peat 1.8 m
51.7790° N · 0.6480° E