Monument record 4972/0/1 - Bronze Age Round Barrow

A Bronze Age round barrow dated to the early/middle Bronze Age by radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the ditch fill.

{1} Cropmark ring ditch recorded in 1964 by Hollowell. SP77205743.

{3} Ring ditch 25m in diameter. Other vague circular and rectangular features, some of which may be natural. SP77225738.

{4} Faint ring and various rectangular features, probably all geological.

{5} The ring ditch was sectioned in two places. It was not bottomed but seemed to have a V shaped profile. There were two fills. One of them had a charcoal patch and a sample of this was taken for radio carbon dating. There were no finds associated with the fills and so the feature can not be dated. Could maybe be interpreted as a Bronze age barrow and ditch but there are flaws to this interpretation.

{6} An archaeological evaluation comprising trial trenching and geophysical survey was carried out by Rob Atkins on the line of a proposed new road. It confirmed the existence of a sub-circular ring ditch.

{8} A radiocarbon date was obtained from a sample of charcoal obtained from the ring ditch. The charcoal was probably from a single carbonised timber and comprised 56 fragments of oak sapwood and 20 fragments of oak heartwood. The charcoal was too comminuted to record the age of roundwood or estimate stem diameters. The radiocarbon dating gave a date centred on 1620 Cal BC (1745-1485 at 2 sigma).

{9, 10} Archaeological excavation prior to residential development of the site (Ring Ditch 1 in text). It comprised a single contiguous ditch. No evidence of a mound or internal features remained. A wild vetch seed from the upper fill returned a radiocarbon date of 1404-1261 cal BC.

<1> HOLLOWELL R., 1971, Aerial Photography and Fieldwork in the Upper Nene Valley, 13/Site 4 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN106546.

<2> Northampton Museum Topographical Index, (unchecked) (Index). SNN42388.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.270 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<4> FOARD G.R., 1979, Oral Report to SMR, (checked) (Oral Report). SNN51271.

<5> Atkins, R. And Holmes, M., 1999, An archaeological evaluation at Brackmills Link Road, Northampton (Report). SNN63079.

<6> 2000-01, Northampton Brackmills Link Road, (checked) (Note). SNN103971.

<7> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<8> CHAPMAN A., 1999, Archaeological Evaluation at Brackmills Link Road, Northampton, 1999: RadioCarbon Dating, (checked) (Report). SNN43544.

<8> Chapman A., 2003, Brackmills Link Road: Radiocarbon Dating, (checked) (Report). SNN102474.

<9> Parker, T, 2019, Archaeological Excavations at Hardingstone, Northamptonshire: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design for Analysis and Publication (Report). SNN113751.

<10> Parker, T, 2021, Archaeological excavation: Land to the east of Hardingstone, North of Newport Pagnell Road, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN116064.

<11> Tom Parker, Reuben Thorpe and Milena Grzybowska, 2023, Bronze Age Ring ditches and an Anglo Saxon farmstead on land to the east of Hardingstone, Northampton (Article). SNN116521.

Record last edited

Oct 22 2024 1:11PM