Monument record 130/0/246 - Medieval Boundary

{1} Boundaries were represented by three short lengths of ditch and a post hole fence line. The post holes probably represented part of a fence line, perhaps an early north-south property boundary. Two north-south ditches divided parts of the former tenement plot. Another ditch, or edge of a large pit, was traced as a remnant feature. If it did represent a ditch its alignment (northwest-southeast) was very different to the other ditches and thus may predate the laying out of the tenement plots.

Excavations at Manor Road allowed the property boundaries to the rear of High Street to be investigated, and permitted analysis of the medieval tenement plots in this part of the New Town. These tenement boundaries were probably not part of the original planned New Town, but represent expansionnorthwards during the later 12th and early 13th centuries. These plots have survived in a recognisable form down to the present day. They have largely excaped the vagaries of land sales and division, and suprisingly little change has occurred over the past 250 years of the historic cartographic record.

<1> Murray, J., 2003, Excavations at the Former Cantor and Silver Site, Brackley, Northamptonshire, P.67 (Article). SNN103909.

Record last edited

Aug 21 2012 10:14AM