Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd PCA

Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd PCA PCA Ltd is an independent archaeological company celebrating over 30 years of business. One of our main areas of expertise lies in our archaeological fieldwork.

Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) is one of the largest archaeological practices in the UK with the capability to undertake projects of all sizes and complexity and in any geographic location. PCA operates from offices in Cambridge, London, Durham, Newark, Norwich, Warwick, and Wi******er. Commensurate with our size is our ability to assist clients in determining their archaeological requirements an

d to successfully discharge their planning conditions. PCA has a well-established and respected team whose experience at all levels allows us to deliver a unique service designed to meet the specific requirements of each project. Our work covers a wide variety of sites, both green and brown-field. These projects range from housing development to shop refurbishment, river foreshore to road construction and infrastructure improvement, quarrying to environmental management schemes, and leisure complexes to industrial facilities. A full range of fieldwork interventions are provided by PCA from Watching Briefs and Evaluations, to large Open Area Excavations. PCA also undertakes desk-based assessments, which are either stand-alone or integrated into larger interdisciplinary reports, such as Environmental Impact Assessments. In addition, a variety of non-invasive techniques such as field walking and topographic survey are provided. The expertise of the Company is not restricted to buried heritage. PCA has a team of experts able to undertake a variety of investigations, including historic and architectural building recording, surveys of the historic built environment and Area Characterisation Studies. PCA has a proven record of delivering results within an agreed time-scale and budget. We have a flexible approach which aims to deliver a professional service, minimising delay and inconvenience while maximising the archaeological knowledge and enhancing a site's heritage value. Pre-Construct Archaeology Limited is proud to have achieved the criteria enabling it to become a Registered Organisation (RO) at the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA). Being an RO means that we are committed to maintaining professional and ethical standards and that our clients can commission work with confidence. PCA is also registered as ISO 9001:2015 and is CHAS and SMAS compliant.

Archaeology Open Day in Wickham!We’re currently excavating the remains of a Roman road at Grindall Fields, alongside evi...
28/08/2026

Archaeology Open Day in Wickham!

We’re currently excavating the remains of a Roman road at Grindall Fields, alongside evidence of industrial activity, possible workshops, pits and ditches.

Join us on Saturday 19 September for an opportunity to visit the excavation, handle finds recovered from the site and take a guided tour with the PCA team.

📅 Saturday 19 September 2026

🕚 11am–3pm

📍 Grindall Fields, Wickham

Meeting point: ///coverings.star.desire

Everyone welcome. No booking required, just drop in.

For this week we have a pottery mishap from inside the central chamber of the kiln at Cringleford.This pot was recover...
28/08/2026

For this week we have a pottery mishap from inside the central chamber of the kiln at Cringleford.

This pot was recovered with vessels fused to either side. The lower vessel seems to be a saggar (a protective pot used during firing) used to protect the tankard inside.

Clearly, something didn’t quite go to plan! But this object has survived to become part of a much bigger story, and has helped us to develop a clearer picture of how pottery was made at Cringleford - from the pits where the clay was dug, to the kiln where the pots were fired.

This week’s is a Victorian child’s shoe, recovered from a tannery pit on Brunswick Street, Darlington, during archaeol...
21/08/2026

This week’s is a Victorian child’s shoe, recovered from a tannery pit on Brunswick Street, Darlington, during archaeological work for Kier Construction.

Only 20cm long, the leather shoe still has its copper alloy eyelet grommets and iron hobnails. The grommets help date it to the mid-to-late 19th century, as these were introduced in 1828 and became standard on shoes from the 1840s.

The shoe was found among the waste from the tannery, including other pieces of footwear, a leather belt, pottery and metal buckets.

Tanning was once one of Darlington’s major industries, but it was dirty, smelly and dangerous work. The town was once filled with deep tanning pits, some around three metres deep. In 1881, a young girl named Maria Mosley drowned after falling into one of the pits at Middleton’s Yard. At the time, it was reported that there were more than 40 disused tanpits in the yard.

We’ll never know who wore this shoe, but finds like this show that industrial sites can tell us about more than just industry, they can give us glimpses of the people who lived alongside them.

20/08/2026

A lovely video from Alexis Haslam, showing us around Fulham Palace and its gardens, and discussing some of the hidden stories revealed by the archaeology.

From the medieval drawbridge and Tudor bee boles to the archaeology of the Palace gardens, the excavations have revealed fascinating details about how the site developed and was used over the centuries.

And if you'd like to find out more about the archaeology, history and gardens of Fulham Palace, This Land of 50 Hides: The archaeology and history of the Fulham Palace site from prehistory to the present, as revealed by excavations 1972–2018 is available to buy from the PCA website: https://www.pre-construct.com/product/this-land-of-50-hides/

Following on from our aurochs discovery earlier this week, the Cambridge team have now started taking a closer look at t...
14/08/2026

Following on from our aurochs discovery earlier this week, the Cambridge team have now started taking a closer look at the remains.

While Project Officer Rita Pedro gets on with the project report, she and Finds Supervisor Emily McClure have been getting to grips with the aurochs, and a red deer antler recovered from the same feature.

Communications with Cambridgeshire Archaeology and the HEA Archaeological Consultancy team regarding the recording of the Aurochs is ongoing, and we'll have more news soon!

Over the last few days, a team from our Cambridge Office have conducted excavations on the banks of an ancient watercour...
12/08/2026

Over the last few days, a team from our Cambridge Office have conducted excavations on the banks of an ancient watercourse or paleochannel, near the Fen edge in Cambridgeshire.

During the project, the articulated remains of a large wild bovine known as an Aurochs was exposed and excavated, conducted by team Leader Rita Pedro and Animal Bone specialist Tess Townend . Resting within peat, the species of Bovine, which became extinct in Britain around 1300BC during the Late Bronze Age, was carefully exposed and excavated and observed as having fantastic levels of preservation.

Following discussions between PCA Project Manager Michael Joyce, members of the HEA Archaeological Consultancy team and Lewis Busby, Archaeological Officer for Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team, the Aurochs was fully excavated, and is currently at the PCA Cambridge processing facility awaiting further investigations.

Cambridgeshire Archaeology

What did people do for fun at Fulham Palace over 400 years ago?To celebrate the launch of our latest monograph 'This Lan...
07/08/2026

What did people do for fun at Fulham Palace over 400 years ago?

To celebrate the launch of our latest monograph 'This Land of 50 Hides: Archaeological Investigations at Fulham Palace', this week's features one of the smallest but most exciting finds from the excavations - a tiny antler teetotum. It was spun in games of chance to determine the outcome of a game, much like throwing dice.

Intriguingly, the term Fulhams (or Fullams/Fulloms) was once used to describe false dice. This may have been because such dice were produced in the area, or because Fulham had a reputation for gamblers and blacklegs during the later reign of Elizabeth I.
This teetotum, however, shows no signs of being anything other than fair!

The monograph is available now from the PCA website: https://www.pre-construct.com/product/this-land-of-50-hides/

Today we're celebrating the launch of the Fulham Palace Monograph at Fulham Palace.Bringing together the results of year...
06/08/2026

Today we're celebrating the launch of the Fulham Palace Monograph at Fulham Palace.

Bringing together the results of years of excavation and research, the monograph tells the story of Fulham Palace from its earliest origins through to the modern day, uncovering everything from prehistoric activity and Saxon settlement to the medieval palace, Tudor gardens and later redevelopment.

It has been a privilege for everyone at PCA to contribute to such an important publication alongside Fulham Palace and the many specialists involved. Congratulations to Alexis and everyone who helped bring it to life, and we hope today's launch is a great success.

Our Archaeobotanist Bronagh could barley believe her eyes with this oat-ally awesome flot! The flot (the light, floating...
31/07/2026

Our Archaeobotanist Bronagh could barley believe her eyes with this oat-ally awesome flot!

The flot (the light, floating organic material recovered by immersing a soil sample in water) is over a litre in volume and is full of charcoal, charred cereal grains and charred seeds, including corncockle, corn chamomile, and knapweeds. Notably, it also contained a mixture of different cereals, including bread wheat, barley, and oats, with some of the wheat even showing signs of having germinated.

We’re still in the process of figuring out what this assemblage could represent, but it definitely ex-seeded our expectations.

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