Stonea
| Stonea | |
| Cambridgeshire | |
|---|---|
 Stonea Camp bank and ditch | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL427884 |
| Location: | 52°28’30"N, 0°6’4"E |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Fenland |
Stonea is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire, sitting amongst the fenland south-east of March and within the parish of Wimblington.
Stonea today consists of a scattered collection of farmsteads and houses, the majority sited along Sixteen Foot Bank, a man-made river which forms part of the Middle Level Navigations. The largest cluster is on the bank near the Golden Lion pub.[1] This part of Stonea is bisected by a manned railway crossing on the Ely to Peterborough Line. Stonea railway station closed in 1966.
A former Primitive Methodist chapel is now a private residence.[2]
History
There has been habitation in the area since prehistory. An archaeological site dated to around 500 BC, Stonea Camp is the lowest Iron Age hill fort in Britain.[3] The site is thought to be the site of a battle in 47 AD mentioned by Tacitus, between the Iceni tribe and a Roman auxiliary force under governor Ostorius Scapula.
The camp itself was ploughed over in the 1960s, but the filled-in ditches were restored to the bank formation by the British Museum and Cambridgeshire County Council in the 1980s.[4] To prevent further damage by agriculture, the area is now designated as a pocket park.
The remains of a multi-storey Roman tower have been excavated to the north of the Stonea Camp fortifications. The substantial foundations of the rectangular building suggest some height; at least three storeys are proposed. The building featured a hypocaust and had walls decorated with painted plaster. Architectural fragments include tiles and window glass.[5] However, the tower was demolished around 200 AD. The Roman settlement at Stonea may have been the establishment of a procurator, based in the tower or it may have been planned as a town with a market and bureaucratic role.
A mediæval farmhouse at Stitches Farm was demolished in 1973.[6]
Film and Television
Stonea has featured on television on occasion:
- A Tales of the Unexpected episode, "The Flypaper" (1980), was filmed at Stonea: scenes include the railway bridge, the 16 Foot and The Golden Lion pub.
- Growing Rich (a 1990s Fay Weldon adaptation) was filmed in Stonea and Chatteris[7]
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Stonea) |
References
- ↑ Golden Lion pub
- ↑ Information on Wimblington from GENUKI
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 372473 – Stonea Camp
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 372473 – Stonea Camp
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 870039 – Stonea Roman Settlement
- ↑ Painting of the demolished farmhouse, BBC "Your Paintings"
- ↑ Growing Rich at the Internet Movie Database
