ENN110537 - Towcester south, 2022 (Trial trench)

Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) was commissioned by RPS Consulting Ltd on behalf of Persimmon Homes to undertake a programme of archaeological evaluation comprising the excavation of eight trial trenches on land at Towcester South, Northamptonshire. Previous investigations on this site established the presence of a considerable late Iron Age to Roman enclosed settlement situated to the southern side of Watling Street, extending throughout the eastern part of the current application boundary. The trial trench evaluation was designed to assess the extent of the archaeological resource within the periphery of this settlement, targeting anomalies and so-called ‘blank areas’ recorded by a geophysical survey, in order to inform the scope of further mitigation works. Archaeological remains recorded during the current evaluation related to lower scale early to middle Iron Age occupation that pre-dated the extensive late Iron Age to Roman settlement located within the eastern part of the application boundary. The Iron Age occupation conformed to two principal types of activities: domestic scale arable and livestock farming; and the creation of several pits for material acquisition, storage and/or refuse disposal. The significance of these results lies predominantly in their contribution to our understanding of Towcester’s pre-Roman origins, evidence of which at present is generally very limited. Within the northern part of the site, close to the current route of the A5/Watling Street, were a number of medieval to post-medieval quarry pits that may have been used to acquire materials for localised repairs to the road.