Monument record 5089/0/1 - Prehistoric Pit Alignment

A sinuous pit alignment at least 400m long.

{1} Cropmark recorded in 1979. Possible pit alignment and linear ditch. Very indistinct. SP706586.

{2} Pit Alignment (?), Linear Ditch (?) (c. SP 706586), N. of M1 motorway, on Upper Lias Clay, at 74 m. above OD, are recorded as very indistinct on an aerial photgraph taken in 1979.

{3} NCCAP: SP7058/001.

{4} The main pit alignment follows a sinuous course through the eastern half of Field 1, intersecting with two enclosures, before continuing north into Field 2 and terminating against the east-west boundary ditch. At the southern edge of the Field 2 it follows a particularly sharp curve.

{5} Pit alignment 1, at least 400m long, was a sinuous line of pits on a general north to south alignment. It was seen in trenches 22, 13, 14, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12. A bulk soil sample was taken from the lower fill of pit [1406] and sherds of pottery were recovered from the upper fill of this pit and other pits.

{6} Pit Alignment PA1 was a sinuous line of at least 108 pits extending north to south over a distance of 390m within Area A. It extended southwards beyond limit of excavation and development area. At its northern end, it ended, or began, at an earlier, Bronze Age, boundary ditch (HER 5089/0/2). To the south, the line of the pits was observed to follow a sharp curve around an area of tree root disturbance, perhaps suggesting that the trees which once stood there were considered significant in the landscape at the time of pit alignment construction.

<1> Brown A.E. (ed.), 1980, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1979, 15/176 (checked) (Article). SNN56490.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.311/Site 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<3> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<4> Meadows, A, Walford, J, and Simmonds, C., 2014, Archaeological geophysical survey at Pineham Expansion Zone H, Northampton (Report). SNN110116.

<5> Simmonds, C., 2015, Archaeological trial trenching on land at Pineham, Zone H Northamptonshire Interim Statement May 2015 (Interim Report). SNN110361.

<6> Simmonds C., 2017, Archaeological excavation on land at Pineham Zone H, Northamptonshire September 2015 to May 2016: Assessment report and updated project design, p. 23 (Report). SNN110986.

<6> Simmonds, C, 2019, Archaeological Excavations on land at Pineham Zone H, Northamptonshire September 2015 to May 2016, p. 23 (Report). SNN112261.

<7> Horne, B (editor), 2016, South Midlands Archaeology (46), p. 43 (Journal). SNN111326.

<8> Shaw M.; Williams J., 1971-1981, Northampton Development Corporation SMR Record Cards, A71 (Index). SNN133.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:30PM