Monument record 1475/0/1 - Bronze Age Round Barrow

Archaeological excavation confirmed that it was a ring ditch with a diameter of 26m. No entrance could be found. The entire circuit of the ditch was recut and a small pit containing an unurned cremation was cut into this.

{1} Cropmarks recorded in 1964 by R.Hollowell. Ring ditches at SP712598.

{2} Quoted ngr: SP71255975.

{3} Archaeological evaluation confirmed the presence of ring ditch (or roughly circular enclosure) and (intersecting) trackway; also confirmed the presence of another ditch to the East, as shown on AP.The ring ditch is sited on a low natural ridge is not certain that the ring ditch is truly circular, for it appears more oval in outline on Aps. On the south side the ditch was at least 1.7m deep below the modern surface, but on the north side only 1.2m deep. It had a slack V-shaped profile, being on average 2.5m wide at bedrock level. It had silted up to a depth of 0.2m but then appears to have been deliberately filled with a homogeneous deposit of dark brown loam.The butt ends of two other shallow ditches or pits were revealed. Another feature of uncertain function, 0.55m deep, its filling disturbed by animal burrows, was located with the confines of the ring ditch. A small amount of Neolithic/ Iron Age pottery was found.

{4} NCCAP: SP7159/005-6.

{6} The ring ditch was excavated as part of a wider scheme of investigation prior to housing development. The ditch formed a complete circuit, there was no entrance, and it had been entirely recut at a later date. A pit containing an unurned cremation had been cut into the top of the recut ditch. Within the ring ditch was a single small pit. A small amount of pottery from the ring ditch fills incuded a single small sherd of Beaker pottery and a sherd of early Bronze Age pottery came from the upper fill of the re-cut [4055]. Iron Age pottery was also recovered.

{9} Radiocarbon dating has established that the barrow was established in the early Bronze Age. The cremation burial cut into the backfill of the recut ditch was radiocarbon dated to the end of the early Bronze Age or the beginning of the middle Bronze Age.

<1> Northampton Museum Topographical Index, Site List (unchecked) (Index). SNN1470.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.402/Site 1 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<3> JACKSON D., 1993, Archaeological Evaluation at Upton, Northampton, (checked) (Report). SNN40477.

<3> JACKSON D., 1994, Archaeological Evaluation at Upton, Northampton, (checked) (Article). SNN112178.

<4> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<5> JACKSON D.A., 1992, Upton Survey: Fieldwalking to The South of The A45, (checked) (Report). SNN62361.

<6> Wolframm-Murray, Y, & Burke, J, 2020, Archaeological Excavation and Strip, Map and Sample on land at Upton Park, South of Weedon Road, Northamptonshire: Updated Project Design (Report). SNN112627.

<7> Wolframm-Murray, Y, Burke, J, and Atkins, R, 2021, Archaeological Excavation and Strip, Map and Sample on land at Upton Park South of Weedon Road Northampton (Report). SNN113097.

<8> Shaw M.; Williams J., 1971-1981, Northampton Development Corporation SMR Record Cards, A24 AP41-2 (Index). SNN133.

<9> Wolframm-Murray, Y, Burke, J, and Atkins, R, 2023, Bronze Age barrow and pit alignments at Upton Park, south of Weedon Road, Northampton (Monograph). SNN115670.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:29PM