An open-area excavation conducted at the Eastern Gate Hotel site encountered an intensive and long-lived archaeological sequence. In the 6th century AD, a ditch was established and a cruciform brooch and clay loom weight were deposited. Subsequently, the area returned to agricultural usage until - in c. 1200 - five long-lived burgage plots were established. Linear in form, and with a distinctive twist at their head, each of these plots represents the occupation of a former land within the preceding open field. The newly-established properties were situated on the outer fringe of an extra-mural settlement that was founded following the relocation of Barnwell Priory in c. 1112. So rapid and successful was this settlement's growth, by the late 13th century the site comprised part of a substantial suburb - containing around 95 households - which was physically separated from Cambridge by over half-a-mile of open fields. By the early 14th century a sixth plot had been established, which was principally industrial in focus, and the level of activity at the site appears to have reached its zenith. By the 15th century, however, the suburb appears to have entered a period of decline. Although occupation continued throughout the post-medieval period, the settlement was reduced in scale to the size of a village. The former medieval plots were gradually amalgamated into three larger units. Then, following the inclosure of the surrounding fields in 1807, a process of re-suburbanisation commenced. Over the course of less than 40 years the population of Barnwell increased almost 4000% as a large number of buildings were constructed, and the site became incorporated into Cambridge's expanding suburban fringe.