NHER 2394 (Find Spot record) - Late Prehistoric wooden boat

10 August 1878. Excavation.
A wooden vessel was found in a "peat bed at a point in the River Ouse about halfway between Denver Sluice and Lynn, in fact just above the Great Horse-shoe Bend, commonly called 'Maudlin Bend'" (S1). The object is described as projecting about five feet from the steep bank and had been visible for several years, causing a hazard to boats. Mr. Marshall excavated the boat, which was laying upright in the middle of the buried peat bed (see (S1) p. 202 for section drawing). Described as a canoe, the vessel had been shaped from a single oak tree. It had a flat bottom and straight sides on the outer surface and measured about two feet four inches wide by just six inches deep. A length of ten feet was exposed during the initial excavation. A few days later, a further five feet were revealed by workmen but it was still penetrating into the bank and a decision was made to cut it rather than continue excavating. Thus, a fifteen foot length of the boat was removed to W. Marchall's stable yard at Ely where it consequently disintegrated. The original excavator believed that only a very small portion of the vessel was left unexcavated.
The position of the vessel within the ancient peat bed led the excavator to conclude that it was most likely of pre-Roman date as he believed the Fen Causeway (NHER 2796) Roman Road was positioned above the peat. This analysis A. Fox's 1923 publication on the archaeology of the Cambridge region (S2) confirms this analysis and references this find in the discussion of the Bronze Age.
No other objects were found during the investigation.
Information from journal article (S1).
See (S3) for responses to the presentation to the society in 1879.
See (S4) for a second article written for the Norwich Geological Society.
See (S5) for comparative sections across the Fen Causeway.
See (S6) for another comparative reference.
Also summarized on various record cards (S7), (S8), and (S9).
E. Rose (NAU/NLA).
Updated H. Hamilton (HES), 06 September 2018.