Monument record 1624/15 - Medieval manorial farm, Lime Street

In 2002 an area of Saxon and medieval occupation was excavated in advance of residential development at Lime Street. Late Saxon features were few but increased activity ensued during the medieval period and by the 14th century the site was occupied by a complex which may have formed part of the manorial farm. This included a dovecote, malt house and barn.

{3} Excavation was undertaken taken prior to development in 2001.
The earliest medieval activity was concentrated in the south-western corner of the site. A series of nine post-holes extended north-south in a very rough line for 9.0m, but the arrangement was too haphazard to be interpreted as anything more than a fence line. To the north of the post holes there was a cluster of pits as well as one to the east. Most of these features lay immediately to the west of a pair of parallel and slightly curving ditches. A scatter of poorly defined pits and gullies to the east of these boundaries also date to the earlier 12th century. A series of parallel ditches ran along the eastern margin of the site, they ran parallel with Lime Street and it may be suggested that it was the formation of this boundary system that probably established the layout of the medieval plots, the road alignment and the alignment of the major medieval buildings. The ditches were certainly in use through the 11th century and away from the malthouse the latest material from the ditches is of early 12th century date. The sections beneath the malthouse produced some 13th and 14th century pottery, this material may have been associated with later pits cut into the ditch fills.

Through the later 12th and 13th centuries activity was sparse, comprising a small group of three pits under the malthouse and a few pits further to the south. One of the pits had been lined with three courses of flat laid limestone along its eastern edge, and its fill contained much charcoal and small pieces of burnt limestone, suggesting it was used for some industrial process. To the south one of the pits was dated to the early-mid 13th century by a primary pottery assemblage.

By the early 14th century a group of three buildings were established: a long malthouse/barn, a circular dovecote and a building with mortared walls that might have served as a kitchen/bakehouse range. The malthouse, the best preserved building, was 28.5m long by 6.2m wide, with an internal width of 4.7m and an open floor length of 22.3m excluding the malting oven. The malthouse can be dated by substantial pottery assemblages recovered from secure contexts that both predate its construction and relate to its demolition. They are all 14th century, indicating the relatively short lifetime of the building.
An area of limestone to the immediate south of the malthouse appeared to be contemporary. Whilst interpreted on site as a cobbled surface, there was no indication that this was a well-laid surface with indications of wear. To the south the limestone abutted a roughly built limestone wall that ran parallel to the malthouse. This may have formed a lean-to structure.
The circular dovecote had been extensively robbed. It was 8.2m in diameter, with an internal space of 6.0m in diameter.The walls were faced with large limestone blocks and the core comprised slightly smaller limestone pieces bonded with clayey loam.A central pit would have held the post supporting the rotating ladder, the potence, that gave access to the dove holes set in the upper walls.
The pottery from the demolition rubble suggests that the building was in use and and was demolished during the 14th century.
The northern building was rectangular with internal dimensions of 11.6m long by 6.8m wide. The walls has been totally robbed. The fill of the robber trenches appeared to derive from a decayed mortar wall bonding and suggests that this building was of higher status than the malthouse or the dovcote. No extensive floor levels had survived, although a small layer of soil and scattered limestone may gave been the remnants of an earthern floor. The demolition rubble included Collyweston roof tiles and pottery dating to the 15th century, suggesting that this building continued in use, or at least was demolished, later than the others. No internal features survived.
A boundary wall ran between the dovecote and the kitchen/bakehouse and continued northward beyond the excavation.
There were about 26 pits in an area about 20x14m in the extreme southern part of the site. Their function was probably quarrying; the backfill seemed to be hurried and contained large amounts of pottery, possibly domestic rubbish.
The nature of the excavated buildings of the 14th century, a major malthouse and barn, an adjacent dovecote and a building with with mortared walls, possibly a detached kitchen range, leaves no doubt as to their manorial associations. Dovecotes were the preserve of landlords, monasteries and parochial clergy and the malthouse barn is of an exceptional size. They therefore must have formed part of the demesne farm of a manor. The large size of the malting barn makes it possible that the manorial farm at Lime Street may well have been producing malt for sale at distant urban centres.
By 1428 the church had been reduced to eight parishioners, and this decline may parallel the short lifetime of the excavated manorial farm, which had been abandoned at around the end of the 14th century after less than a hundred years of use. The direct cause of the abandonment is unkown, but these changes must probably be viewed as part of the widespread social upheaval and reorganiation of settlement that followed in the wake of the depopulation caused by the Black Death around the middle of the 14th century.

<1> Atkins R.; Upton-Smith T., 2001, An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment And Trial Excavation On Former Allotments Site, Lime Street,, p.4 (unchecked) (Report). SNN101151.

<2> Atkins R.; Lloyd R., 2002, Excavations at Lime Street, Irthlingborough, 2001, assessment and updated project design, p.6 (unchecked) (Report). SNN102097.

<3> Chapman, A. Atkins, R. & Lloyd, R., 2003, A Medieval Manorial Farm at Lime Street, Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, p. 6 (unchecked) (Article). SNN112181.

Record last edited

Feb 26 2025 2:25PM