Monument record 726/22 - Roman and possible late Saxon activity, Allen's Yard

Archaeological observation was undertaken in 1984 during the construction of a supermarket and six shops. The main Roman route into the town from the south-west, Alchester Road, was observed as well as two other side roads. At the north end of the site an early alignment of Watling Street, located to the west of the existing road, was also identified. The Alchester Road appears to have been constructed in the late 1st century AD while the side roads were being laid out in the second half of the 2nd century. There were timber buildings lining the road by the later 1st-early 2nd century and there were also industrial hearths and waste of this period. Ironworking appears to have been the dominant craft in this area from the late 1st century AD and throughout much of the 2nd century. During the 2nd century, the buildings appear to have been re-aligned and rebuilt in stone. Also of this date was a possible public building with mortar floors and white-painted internal walls and possibly an adjacent bath house. In the north of the site a conduit may have supplied water to the bath house. Four ditches possibly dating to the mid-10th century may relate to the re-occupation of the town by Edward the Elder.

[This investigation has never been fully published]

{1} A watching brief and limited excavation was carried out during the construction of a supermarket and six shops. The area formed part of the south-west quarter of the Roman and medieval times. The Roman road to Alchester was observed on roughly the same alignment as that noted in park Street and in the Roman suburbs. Two other Roman roads were also located and associated with the street pattern were a number of structures. The earliest phase of activity was represented by a series of isolated postholes which could not be ascribed a function. These were replaced by late 1st to 2nd century buildings, some of which contained hearths and other industrial features. A concrete-lined water channel, some 1.4m high and 0.7m wide, was found. This structure has provisionally been dated to the late 1st century. A cistern and associated drains were also briefly examined. The cistern was oval in plan and may originally have been stone-lined. The cistern was filled with waterlogged organic material from which it is hoped to determine the original function.

Four ditches which are provisionally dated to the mid-10th century were found. They could relate to the re-occupation of the town by Edward the Elder.

{5} The Allen's Yard/Gateway site is discussed at various points in the text; At the Gateway site the ditches of the late 1st century Alchester Road were not recut until after the mid-2nd century, continuing to silt up to late in that century. Industrial hearths in the forecourts of workshops had crept forward over the filled-up ditches. At the north end, east of 7m Sponne House, the metalling of a road c5m wide was observed-possibly the early course of Watling Street. The earliest timber buildings and plot boundaries seem to relate to its alignment. There were also subsidiary roads and lanes, laid down in the second half and towards the end of the 2nd century. From cAD65 and into the 2nd century the buildings were of posthole and beamslot construction and cobbled yards laid down by the early 2nd century. There were also industrial hearths, furnace floors, quenching tanks and waste of this period and an ironworking quarter had been established by the late 1st century. During the first half of the 2nd century the plot boundaries seem to have been realigned, cobbled yards relaid and new workshops built in stone- possibly of two-storeys. By the north-corner of the supermarket was a large marsh or pool, with the lower levels packed with building materials and pottery, much imported and either whole or capable of reconstruction as well as a luxury mirror fragment from Rhineland, possible Italian glass bowl shard, Samian bowls and remains of butchered oxen.
The conduit was lined with lime mortar render possibly itself lined with timber planks- when the contractos broke through it pieces of timber were observed in the water. A large, presumably public, building of beam slot and timber upright construction, with solid orange mortar floors, white painted internal walls and red tiled roof was partially investigated. It was 16.5m long by at least 10m wide. Dating from the early 2nd century, it seems likely to have had an adjacent bath-suite (opus signinum and flue tiles found nearby). It overlay a 1st-century ditch indicating urban replanning. It was demolished at sometime in the mid 2nd century and replaced by a stone sill wall building which itself was demolished by the end of the century. Two stone strip buildings were recorded with others probably destroyed by the construction of the supermarket.


{6} The Roman road to Alchester was observed on roughly the same alignment as that noted in Park Street and in the Roman suburbs. Subsidiary roads and track ways fed onto this road from properties on both sides. Shortly after the road was first formalised (during late 1st to late second century AD) the only buildings were small timber round huts up to 5m in diameter, probably for agricultural usage. (Attributed to the Allen's Rd area). Woodfield notes slight rectilinear timber buildings of beam slot and post hole construction built during the later first century AD, some of which contained furnaces, quenching tanks and hearths.
The as yet unpublished excavations in Allens Yard a short distance to the south west along the Alchester Road may have discovered another rather different religious focus. Here the discovery of a substantial mortared conduit 0.7m wide and 1.4m high was associated with an oval shaped and possibly originally stone lined cistern (2 on Figure 3).
Woodfield has speculated that this may have been to supply a bath house in the building found in the south east corner of the site.

Whilst eminently possible it is equally possible that the site was associated with water from a nearby spring and that the features we find are part of a complex associated with a temple. If so it too was replaced in the second century but the centre of the site becoming or reverting back to a marsh or shallow pool. The latter may well have continued to have acted as a small shrine or religious focus given the highly unusual finds groups (including a mirror) and cattle bones found deposited in it.

A second substantial building (B on Figure 3), this time of sill beam and timber upright construction and of uncertain function lay to the south of Alchester road in Allens Yard. Reasonably well appointed with red mortar floors, white painted walls and a tiled roof it appears to have been approximately 16.5m long and 10m wide. Built in the early-mid second century AD it may on the basis of evidence from finds have been associated with another hypocausted building. At present there is insufficient evidence to suggest its function but it may have been part of a substantial private house or bath house.

A strap-end pendant found in a first century ditch at Allen's Yard, is paralleled by finds from Roman forts at Doncaster, Hod Hill and South Shields . Although the series of find-spots clearly cannot be described as a concentration, their locations suggest that any early military occupation lay to the west of the later line of Watling Street.

<1> Pike, A (ed), 1985, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (15), 65 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN43734.

<2> 1984, Britannia, (unchecked) (Journal). SNN57330.

<3> 1984, Medieval Archaeology, (unchecked) (Note). SNN57331.

<4> Parry, S. and Woodfield, C., 1984, Towcester, Allens Yard, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN57328.

<5> Towcester & District Local History Society, 1995, Towcester: The Story of An English Country Town, p. 3-50 (Book). SNN72341.

<6> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Laughton J.; Steadman S.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester, Section 3.1.2 (unchecked) (Report). SNN103132.

Record last edited

Nov 28 2022 2:27PM