Monument record 3098/1 - Iron Age and Roman settlement, Wakerley

Part of wider excavations at Wakerley Quarry in the 1970s. Late Iron Age and Roman agricultural settlement and industrial site, pottery kilns, iron-smelting furnaces and ironstone quarry. Evidence of possible Roman open cast mining is nearby

{1}Excavation undertaken by D Jackson, 1500 square metres in total. One of the iron smelting furnaces was removed to the National Science Museum;Iron Age & Romano-British enclosed settlement with evidence of iron production; associated Romano-British & Anglo-Saxon burials; Slag-tapping & non-slag-tapping tall shaft furnaces & channel hearths for roasting; several furnaces show relining phases; potentially related open-cast iron mining nearby.

The settlement originated in the Iron Age. The earliest boundary was an extensive line of post-holes and a interrupted ditch which bordered the site on the south west. The alignment was traced for 137m. The two features were parallel but it is not known whether they were contemporary.

Later a sub-square enclosure was created with an internal area of c70m x 70m. There was an entrance in the north-east side; a pit either side may have held posts for a gate. The upper ditch fill contained a small amount of Belgic-style pottery, while scored wares were recovered from the lower layers.

During the third phase, a trapezoidal enclosure was constructed immediately to the north-west, sharing a southern boundary ditch with the northern boundary of the earlier encosure. There was a similar style entrance. Dating evidence suggests the enclosure was dug towards the end of the pre-Roman Iron Age. The north-west corner of the enclosure was partitioned off, presumably to create an animal pen. Three stages of development were identified. Seven round houses were identified in this enclosure. In general they comprised an inner ring of posts which were situated 1-2m inside the hut wall. A four and a six post structure were also identified. Twenty-six pits were found across the two enclosures.

In the Roman period, the enclosures were redefined and extended. Pottery from the ditch fills suggests that the main, southern, enclosure was in existence by the end of the 1st century and still enclosed in the late 3rd century. However, a 4th-century corn drying kiln truncated one of the enclosure ditches, suggesting it had gone out of use by that time. Fragments of a statue of Minerva, from Central Gaul, probably Autun, were found in one of the ditch fills. A timber aisled barn was situated on the south-east side of the enclosed area and probaby dated to the 2nd or 3rd century. A large number of Roman kilns, ovens or hearths were situated mainly in the south-east haf of the site and the north-east corner. Most were similar, consisting of an elongated pit or channel which was divided into three parts-stokehole, flue or fireplace and chamber. The presence of charred grain suggests some of the features were corn-dryers of very simple design. Some were likely to be associated with iron-working. Three pottery kilns were located to the north of the aisled barn. Pottery production appeared to have failed as a venture due to the inexperience of the potters and poor quality clay. They were of updraught type. Evidence for iron working was widespread, but a concentration of smelting furnaces was discovered immediately outside the southern corner of the main enclosure.

A number of burials were found; of these only four were of Roman date and seven others probably of Roman date. Fourteen infant burials were dated to no later than the 1st century, probably dating to the late Iron Age or early Roman period.

To the south-west of the enclosures was a complex of Roman features that were likely all associated with iron working (Site 4). There were the remains of at least nine furnaces comprising a mix of bowl furnaces, sunken-shaft furnces and surface-shaft furnaces.

{20} An Iron Age and Roman enclosure that seems to have been used for iron production. Excavation has revealed evidence of furnaces and ore roasting hearths. Evidence of possible Roman open cast mining is nearby. The open cast mines and archaeological excavation may have effectivly removed the archaeological remains from this site and assessment was not possible on the 1998 field visit.

<1> JACKSON D.A.; AMBROSE T.M., 1978, Excavations at Wakerley in Northants: 1972-75, (unchecked) (Article). SNN72933.

<2> Brown, AE (Ed), 1973, Northamptonshire Archaeology, 8/17 (Journal). SNN14319.

<3> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1976, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1975, 11/194 (Journal). SNN169.

<4> 1970, Archaeological Excavations (Various Years), (unchecked) (Series). SNN38107.

<5> 1971, Medieval Archaeology (15), p.132 (checked) (Journal). SNN4977.

<6> JACKSON D., 1975, CBA GROUP 9 NEWSLETTER, 5/16 (Newsletter). SNN58091.

<7> Rowley R.T.; Fowler W.J. (Editors), 1974, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (4), 4/8 (Newsletter). SNN17341.

<8> Wilson D.R., 1973, Roman Britain in 1972, 4/294 (Journal). SNN19515.

<9> 1974, Britannia, 5/434 (Journal). SNN58444.

<10> 1998, Monuments Protection Programme: Bloomery Iron Industry (Provisional Step 2 Shortlist), 25 (Catalogue). SNN46996.

<11> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1971, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1970, p.29 (checked) (Journal). SNN100525.

<12> Miranda J Aldhouse-Green, 1976, A corpus of religious material from the civilian areas of Roman Britain, p.181 (unchecked) (Series). SNN7045.

<13> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.194/Site 2 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77382.

<14> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1974, Archaeology In Northamptonshire 1973, 9/85 (Article). SNN9109.

<15> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1975, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1974, 10/163 (Report). SNN41605.

<16> JACKSON D., 1973, CBA GROUP 9 NEWSLETTER, 14+17 (Newsletter). SNN60522.

<17> 1975, Britannia, 6/225 (Journal). SNN55428.

<18> JACKSON D., 1981, Archaeology at an Ironstone Quarry in the Harringworth-Wakerley Area, 1968-79, p.14-33 (unchecked) (Article). SNN38094.

<19> Historic England, Wakerley Quarry photographs (Archive). SNN115347.

<20> Crossley D., 1998, Monuments Protection Programme: Iron and Steel Industries (Step 3, Appendix 3, Handlist of Assessed Sites) (Report). SNN106760.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:23PM