Monument record 5260/0/1 - Middle Iron Age linear boundary ditch containing multiple inhumation burials and associated pits, Farndish Road

Cropmark of an extensive boundary ditch identified on aerial photographs. Archaeological investigation dated it to the middle Iron Age period. Three crouched burials were found in the base of the ditch.

{1} Cropmarks of two parallel ditches, possibly not sufficiently wide apart to represent a trackway. NCCAP:SP9265/015-16.

{2} Anomalies identified in geophysical survey undertaken in 2018 correspond to these cropmarks, but no more detailed interpretation available.

{3} Trial trench excavation identified ditches associated with this feature in two trenches. A small amount of Iron Age pottery was recovered from the ditch fill and a partial articulated burial was found in the base of the ditch.

{4} Archaeological excavation was carried out ahead of a residential development. Part of the boundary ditch was excavated. Three crouched burials were found at the base of the ditch. One was accompanied by the partial articulated remains of a second individual and a quantity of disarticulated bone.

{5} Excavation at Farndish Road, Irchester followed earlier geophysical survey and evaluation trenching identified Middle Iron Age activity including a substantial boundary ditch containing human burials. A substantial sinuous ditch (Ditch 8) extended broadly east-west across the southern part of Area 1 and corresponded with a previously recorded cropmark. The feature was exposed for approximately 80m before turning sharply south. Excavated in fifteen interventions, it measured between 2.1m and 3.2m wide and up to 0.95m deep. Human remains were recovered from three separate locations within the base and primary fills of the ditch, indicating burial activity closely associated with the initial use of the monument. These comprised a disturbed adult inhumation (SK15), a crouched sub-adult burial (SK37) and a more complex burial deposit containing a crouched juvenile individual (SK119), the skull and articulated cervical vertebrae of an adult male (SK118) and disarticulated human remains including neonatal bone. A radiocarbon determination from SK37 returned a date of 210-50 cal BC (88% confidence), confirming Middle Iron Age use. Two small pits (29 and 51) had been cut into the southern edge of the ditch. Pit 29 was a shallow charcoal-rich scoop which produced Middle Iron Age pottery. Pit 51 produced no find. The monument appears to represent part of a substantial Middle Iron Age linear boundary system. The unusual concentration of burials within the base of the ditch suggests that the feature had a funerary or ceremonial significance beyond a purely agricultural boundary function.

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

<2> Lawton, J. & Teale, K., 2018, Farndish Road, Irchester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Geophysical Survey, November 2018 (Report). SNN111829.

<3> Moosbauer, A, 2019, Land to the south of James Road, Irchester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation (Report). SNN112629.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2022, South Midlands Archaeology (52), p. 71 (Journal). SNN115177.

<5> Lawrence Billington and Toby Knight, 2022, Land at Farndish Road, Irchester: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design (Report). SNN117194.

<6> Lawrence Billington and Toby Knight, 2026, Iron Age and Romano-British Remains at Farndish Road, Irchester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Excavation Report (Report). SNN117233.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2026 11:34AM