Sherds of an ordinary beaker and all of a handled beaker except for its handle were found in old sandpit when the face collapsed after heavy rain. The site was visited by the writer K. Wood and A. Page, with the finder and further sherds and the handle of the beaker were found. Apparently, the two beakers had originally been about two feet below the ground surface. There were no traces, however, of a structure, burial or other archaeological material. The ordinary beaker was restored by the Institute of Archaeology, London, and D. Clark, Peterhouse College, Cambridge, reported on the two beakers as follows: 'the handled beaker from South Willingham displays a shape, zonal style and motif assemblage matched only in the southern British beaker assemblage (roughly Abercromby's group A). This southern British beaker assemblage is an indigenous development apparently first becoming a coherent tradition around the fen margins of East Anglia, integrating the new feature of the intrusive northern British/Dutch beaker groups (Abercromby group C) and the residual local beaker settlers of the earlier phases (Abercromby group B). The southern British beaker assemblage first appears in the fen margin region around 1700-1600BC and expands vigorously throughout England, developing a changing motif, style and shape tradition that can usefully be divided into four successive and continuous phases - primary, developed, late and final southern beaker groups (S1, S2, S3, S4). The late and final southern beakers postdate the developing Wessex sub-culture to the south-east and consequently survive late in the eastern counties along the North Sea coast, finally integrating in the biconical urn traditions around 1450-1400BC handled beakers appear to have been an ordinary everyday part of the domestic assemblage of the southern British beaker group. However, they are unknown from the primary phase as indeed they are from the whole of the complementary northern British beaker assemblage found from Yorkshire to Scotland (N1, N2, N3, N4). About 86 handled beakers survive, the majority in sherds, all from the southern British beaker group and most densely clustered in the eastern counties - particularly Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. These handled southern British beakers (SH) fall roughly into three main classes; cylindrical/barrel-shaped, funnel-neck shape with the handle applied, and finally the biconical/collared shape. A close study of the motif assemblage, styling and shape correlations, together with association and stratigraphic evidence, agree in showing the funnel-neck type as most frequent in developed southern beaker contexts and settlements (S2) and the collared/ biconical form most commonly in late and final southern beaker assemblages (S3, S4). Significantly enough, the most wooden looking type - the cylindrical/barrel handled beakers, occur throughout the whole sequence from developed to final southern phases. Taken together with the total absence of primary southern British handled beakers one might usefully surmise that the handled beaker tradition was stimulated by and ran contemporarily with a similar series of wooden drinking mugs. The South Willingham handled beaker is clearly of the cylindrical/barrel 'wooden' group and shares its decorated base with at least four more vessels of this class from Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, Fordham, Sible Hedingham, Essex, and Aldro, Yorkshire, the closest parallel being the Fordham vessel. The 'all-over' vertical chevrons suggest a late date in the series - perhaps in a late or final southern beaker assemblage of about 1150-1400BC.{1}{2}{3}