Monument record 4287/3 - Medieval croft (Croft 52-53), Faxton (later occupied by Rectory Farm)

The 1968 season of excavation at Faxton focussed on the excavation of a single croft in the centre of the village. There were six main structural phases

{1} In the final season of excavation in 1968 work was concentrated on the small croft occupied by Rectory Farm which had recently been demolished. Six main structural phases were discovered and these were as follows:
Phase I, mid 12th-century. A sub-rectangular timber structure with large post-holes, was set parallel to but well away from the street.
Phase II, late 12th to early 13th century. The existing structure was modified by the insertion of a series of sill-beams.
Phase III, mid 13th-century. The earlier building was abandoned and a new one was erected close to the street. This had mud walls on a foundation of ironstone and boulders. Traces of farm buildings around the yard were also discovered.
Phase IV, late 13th-century. The previous house was abandoned and replaced by a new one close by. This, again, had a mud-wall construction.
Phase V, early 14th-century. Another new house, built of substantial coursed limestone rubble up to 1 m. high, and new farm buildings were erected.
Phase VI, late 14th to early 15th-century. More farm buildings and sheds were constructed, some of which may have remained in use when the house and the rest of the croft were abandoned in the mid 15th century.
After this sequence of houses the close remained empty until Rectory Farm was built in the early 17th century. Pottery was mainly Stamford ware in the early phases and Lyveden ware in the later ones. Finds included a jet button, a bronze buckle and a pair of iron shears (Current Arch., 16 (1969), 144–7; BNFAS, 3 (1969), 20–3).

{2} The croft examined lay immediately east of the church at the south-east corner of the green. The total croft area measured 210ft (N-S) by 100ft and the northern half was excavated. Six main structural phases were present, tentatively dated from the mid-12th century to the mid-15th century. There was no continuity between the medieval houses and the later rectory. There was also no continuity between the few Roman sherds and 2 coins, and the medieval occupation.
Phase 1 was represented by a sub-rectangular timber structure with large post holes and an associated drain to the south. This building was set roughly parallel to the street but 70ft south of it. A second drain ran diagonally south west to north east across the street front of the croft and preceded the present churchyard boundary.
Phase 2: The timber structure was partially replaced by a series of sill beams which also represented internal modifications of the phase 1 structure. During this phase the drains remained in use; that on the street front was deepened and partially realigned, while the fill of the other drain contained burnt grain and other seeds.
Phase 3 represents a total reorganisation of the croft, abandoning the building set well back from the street. The new building was placed close to the street and set on a different east-west alignment. The construction was a slight foundation course of ironstone and glacial erratics; above this was a mud-walled structure 22ft by 12ft. There were no internal features apart from patches of darker occupation soil.
Phase IV was a difficult phase to identify due to later destruction but it appears that the Phase III mud walled house was soon abandoned and replaced by a house (24ft by 14ft) immediately south of it, still of mud walled construction but set on a low base of two courses of ironstone rubble. The east wall survived with a minor drain passing through it; the other three walls had been robbed but their position could be determined. In the lower one third of the house was an ash strewn area which might represent the position of a fire bucket or brazier.
Phase V marked the final stage of house building on the medieval croft. A house (41ft by 17ft) was built outside the Phase III house, but on the same alignment. It was substantially built of coursed ironstone rubble, standing up to 3ft high (9 or 10 courses). The doorway was probably in the centre of the south side, and the lower end of the house had a slight axial gully which from the cleanliness of its filling could have been a sleeper trench for a room partition. No hearth was found and very little reused burnt stone occurred on the croft. There was evidence for a secondary building at the south east angle of the house replacing the Phase IV house but using its southern end (or occupying the position of its southern half).Phase 6 (late 14th/early 15th century) was the final arrangement of the western farm range with a series of lean to sheds alongside a boundary wall which extended to at least 80ft. Mid way along the exposed length of this wall was a gateway; one stone remained in situ with a pivot hole in it. These sheds survived in use after the abandonment of the house in the mid 15th century.
Coins and tokens were plentiful, totalling 26. The late medieval jettons (11) were all found scattered on the surface of the yard as were 2 silver coins of Tudor date. Other finds were varied but not rich in quality, ranging from a jet button, a bone die (or dice), bronze buckles and a pair of iron shears.

{3} There was no continuity between the sequence of medieval houses on the site and the later farmhouse; insufficient 16th century pottery was found to suggest that there was any occupation within the croft at the end of the medieval period.
The sequence of building phases showed increasing sophistication in terms of building technique and farm layout. Building techniques developed as follows: first there was a timber structure with large post- holes and with walls presumably of mud or clay; this was partially replaced in the late 12th century or modified internally by a structure using a series of sill beams laid into the floor of the first phase; then followed the first stone phase with a mud-walled building standing on a low foundation wall of ironstone and field-gathered boulders and pebbles; finally, in the 14th century there was a substantially built stone structure, standing up to 36in high with 9 or 10 courses surviving.
Three factors seemed to determine the arrangement of the buildings within the croft: the first was the position of the main domestic building in relation to the street. In the first two phases the house was placed roughly parallel to the street but 70ft south of it; only in the mid 13th century was the house brought close to the street and set more exactly parallel to it. This drastic move brought into play the other two factors; the barns, store sheds, byres and kilns were no longer temporary structures quickly replaced, but became fixed in their position in relation to the house. The final factor was the position of the entrance to the farm unit. When the house was set well back from the street and divided from it by only a slight drain, then entry to the croft posed no problem. However, when the house was close to the street and occupied nearly all the street frontage, the entrance was at a fixed position with a bridge over the increasingly deepened croft ditch, and finally provided with double leaf gates into the courtyard (one socket stone with its pivot stone had remained in situ).

Butler, L, and Gerrard, C, 2020, Faxton: Excavations in a deserted Northamptonshire village 1966–68 (Monograph). SNN112494.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.122-3 site 15 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> Brown, A.E. (Ed.), 1969, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1967/68 (Medieval), 3/20-2 (checked) (Article). SNN57956.

<3> Department of Environment, 1969, Archaeological Excavations, 1968, 61 (Note). SNN110875.

<4> 1969, Medieval Archaeology (13), 13/279 (checked) (Journal). SNN38357.

<5> Butler L., 1969, Faxton, 16/144-6 (checked) (Article). SNN76391.

Record last edited

Aug 31 2023 2:39PM