The Origins of Cambridgeshire

Abstract

This paper examines the effects on the landscape of Anglo-Saxon immigration in a frontier zone, on either side of the Cam valley which formed the ancient boundary between East Anglia and Mercia. An examination of the placenames, institutions and landscape archaeology on either side of the Cam frontier appears to reveal an unexpected degree of continuity in landscape use between the Roman and middle Saxon periods. This apparent continuity is more marked on the eastern side of the frontier which was subject to centralized East Anglian control from an early date, than on the western bank where political and administrative fragmentation is more easily demonstrable.