Monument record 726/0/160 - Possible Late C1st Romano-British Roundhouse

{2} Cutting the subsoil which overlay a yellow brown gritty clay natural, was a curving gully along with two postholes and two small pits. A sub-circular pit c.1m in diameter x 0.3m deep appears to have been the first feature on site. A single pottery sherd from its fill is late C1st to early C2nd.
This pit was cut by a narrow gully which ran in an east direction from the west baulk and curved to the north-east before going into the east baulk. It had a U-shaped profile with a width if 0.5m and a depth of 0.15-0.2m and a flattish base. The 25 sherds of pottery recovered from the fill are dated later first/earlier second century, and the Samian suggests a date of 80-100AD.
Two aceramic postholes lay to the north, side by side in a larger hollow filled with compacted fine gravels, pebbles and larger cobbles up to 150mm. The post holes only survived to a depth of 80mm maximum and do not appear to have post pipes. A small aceramic shallow oval pit was also just to the north of the gully. It measured 1.06m x 0.5-0.65m with a depth of 0.12m.
In the north of the trench there may have been a primary surface contemporary with these features. It filled a shallow but distinct hollow in the subsoil. The pottery recovered is dated to the second half of the C1st into the earlier C2nd, with Samian running from c.75-90 AD through to the Hadrianic period.
No definite overall pattern can be ascertained form these features. The curving gully does not appear to have been a building slot. The pottery only gives a post quem date and therefore its lateness first/early second makes it unlikely though not impossible to have been a drainage ring gully of an Iron Age type house. The gully has a diameter of 13-15m, which is large. There is no record of any walling, though postholes and the possible floor surface are within the gully and may therefore have been part of a house.

{3} Excavations in 1997 discovered part of a probable timber round house dating to the later first century that appears to have been demolished by the early/middle second century.

<1> Atkins R.; Chapman A., 2002, Excavation of a Roman Settlement at Sponne School, Towcester, 1997, (unchecked) (Article). SNN103874.

<2> Woodfield C.; Atkins R., 2000, Archaeological Excavation At Sponne School, Towcester, Northamptonshire June-July 1997, p.9-10 (checked) (Report). SNN100281.

<3> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Laughton J.; Steadman S.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester, Section 3.3.2 (checked) (Report). SNN103132.

Record last edited

Feb 24 2015 7:11PM