Monument record 4946/5 - Probable Late Roman Cemetery

Excavations at Duston in the 1970s revealed a number of inhumations. Possible late Roman burials (including decapitations) & ditched enclosures.

{1} Series of ditches associated with at least 12 burials centred on SP73256028. At least two burials were decapitated. Later says that at least 16 skeletons and a cremation were revealed, and that four burials had been decapitated [this is probably a summary and includes those recorded as monument 4946/0/5]. Also describes the latter as probably late Roman in date (p.256).

{2} Burials were probably late Roman date.

{3} The excavations and watching briefs of the 1970s further indicate that this was not the only focus for burial at Duston. A watching brief on a series of rectilinear compounds and enclosures thought to lie at the southern periphery of the site recorded a group of at least 12 inhumations aligned west-south-west to east-north-east alongside a major ditched boundary. Although poorly dated (one had a C3rd-C4th coin in its mouth) these late Roman burials may well have been part of a larger but now mostly truncated or destroyed cemetery on the southern edge of the town. Several were decapitated, a tradition seen at other towns within the region and particularly associated with so-called boundary burials found both around and within settlements.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.254+256 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<2> Harman et al., 1981, Burials, Bodies and Beheadings in Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries, p.166 (unchecked) (Article). SNN46307.

<3> Taylor J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Duston (Roman), p.10-11 (checked) (Report). SNN103115.

Record last edited

Apr 23 2025 8:18PM