When the site of RAF Witchford was being cleared a bulldozer driver found an Anglo-Saxon pagan cemetery on the site.[2][3] The bulldozer unearthed and crushed about 30 skeletons. Little archaeological work could be undertaken but some artefacts were recovered,[4] which T. C. Lethbridge stated to be consistent with the period AD 450–650.[5]
More recent survey work has found Iron Age and Roman domestic and other remains. An Anglo-Saxon cemetery was not found at that time, leading to the conclusion that this was not the site of the lost village of Cratendune.[6]
Hundreds
Two hundreds of the Isle of Ely, North Witchford and South Witchford, took their name from the place and had their meeting-place at Witchford.
After the Second World War it was proposed to convert the airfield to a missile base. Rumours said it was to become a Blue Streak base. Hence some older residents refer to the site (now an industrial park) as "The Rocket Base".[citation needed]
Witchford Village College is a secondary school that serves all the surrounding parishes, including Haddenham, Little Thetford, Mepal, Stretham, Sutton, Wilburton and Witcham.[10]
The parish hosts the Grunty Fen Half Marathon road race, which has been held here annually since 1991.[12] The race begins and ends at Witchford Village College and involves two laps into the nearby Grunty Fen.
"Lancaster Way, East Cambridgeshire"(PDF). Cambridgeshire Archaeology Historic Environment Team Annual Report. Cambridgeshire County Council: 7. 2009. Archived from the original(PDF) on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
Fowler, Gordon (1948). "Cratendune: A problem of the Dark Ages"(PDF). Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Bowes and Bowes for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. XLI: 70–73. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
Murray, Margaret; Garrood, JR (1955). "The Finds at Ely Fields Farm"(PDF). Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Deighton Bell for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. XLVIII: 48–49. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
