Monument record 3514/0/3 - Late Iron Age rectangular enclosure and possible roundhouse

Crop/soilmark: Good quality photography. Several trenches were excavated across the enclosure to define it in 1963 and 1967

{2} Excavation was undertaken in 1963 and 1967 in an attempt to define the nature of the enclosure and any associated occupation surfaces before they were destroyed by deep ploughing. There was some evidence of a pre-enclosure phase. The enclosure was of two phases, initially almost square, with the cross-ditch, and then extended to the north-west. The cross-ditch appears to have been backfilled shortly after it had been dug. The main enclosure ditch was 12-15ft wide and 6ft deep and there was an entrance on the east side. Two postholes suggest that there may have been a gate. Lying on the sides of the southern entrance arm were many flat pieces of limestone, some with small holes pierced through them.The interior of the enclosure contained a possibly contemporary hut circle and a few postholes and other shallow features. Finds included a penannular bronze ring and a clay loom weight; a sherd of Belgic pottery was found in the uppermost fills of the main enclosure ditch so again the site must have been flourishing during the earliest part of the first century BC.

{3}Aerial photography 1981, cropmark, enclosures

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> HALL D.N.; NICKERSON N., 1969, IRON AGE POTTERY FROM NORTH BEDFORDSHIRE AND SOUTHNORTHAMPTONSHIRE (Report). SNN63613.

<3> 1982, Aerial Photography in Northamptonshire 1981, p. 108 Strixton (Journal). SNN104561.

Record last edited

Apr 29 2022 9:45AM