Monument record 3228/2 - Possible Romano-British Settlement, north-east of Abbey Farm

Possible ditched trackway and enclosure of Iron Age or Roman date is visible as cropmarks on air photographs. Located in a field SE of Wollaston Lodge, 2 large 3-sided subrectangular ditched enclosures are about 44 x 44 metres and 60 x 36 metres at their widest points and both have no E facing sides. Immediately to the north are fragmentary linear cropmarks that may represent part of a double ditched trackway that extends about 66 metres N-S, but this is speculative.

{1} Roman settlement and cropmarks (centred SP 908645), on limestone at 68m above OD. Air photographs (in NMR) show the remains of what may have been a ditched trackway, now largely destroyed by ironstone mining, running E.-W., with a sub-rectangular and other ditches lying to the S.

{2-5}As described at (1), fragmentary ditched enclosures of Iron Age or Roman date is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. Located in a field about 394 metres SE of Wollaston Lodge and centred at SP 90824 64501, 2 large 3-sided subrectangular ditched enclosures are about 44 x 44 metres and 60 x 36 metres at their widest points and both have no E facing sides. Immediately to the north are fragmentary linear cropmarks that may represent part of a double ditched trackway that extends about 66 metres N-S, but this is speculative. The cropmark features are visible on aerial photographs taken in 2006,2009 and 2016, which also show the nearby ironstone workings that may have truncated the site

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 177/site 5, Fig 157 (Series). SNN77380.

<2> Info Terra Ltd; Blue Sky; Tele Atlas, 2005, Google Earth Imagery, earth.google.com accessed 26-June-2005 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111743.

<3> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 712/332 07-JUN-1974 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<4> Info Terra Ltd; Blue Sky; Tele Atlas, 2005, Google Earth Imagery (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111743.

<5> Info Terra Ltd; Blue Sky; Tele Atlas, 2005, Google Earth Imagery (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111743.

<6> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP, MD003015 (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 7:37PM