Scheduled Monument: Saxon Settlement Enclosure (1006619)

A defended settlement enclosure occupied between the 6th and 10th centuries AD. An important regional centre and probably the location of the provincial capital of Oundle referred to by Bede. A manor was recorded here in 1086 and its history to the medieval period is very well documented. The scheduled area includes the line of the defences and the interior of the enclosure, with the exception of the churchyard and where destroyed by buildings. The settlement is considered to lie between Blackpot Lane, North Street, Church Street and New Street. The area scheduled excludes the church and the churchyard (still in use), the areas under existing housing (whose foundations will have destroyed archaeological levels), the row of tenements on the east side (where foundations, terracing and pits will have destroyed archaeological levels) and the new housing on the north side not shown on the base map (where archaeological areas were destroyed.) Otherwise the scheduled area includes the settlement and its boundaries except on the west side. Here the edge of New Street defines the scheduled area, although it is possible that the site was originally extended beyond this line. Defended Saxon settlement enclosures are very rare and only a handful are known to survive in this country, from a period about which we know very little. The monument includes the site of a manor, which has important documentation in contemporary texts, as well as a rectory, a vicarage, a tenement row and the church in the medieval period.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2023 9:31AM