Monument record 4619/0/1 - Prehistoric Boundary (morphed aerial archaeology)

Pit alignment on air photographs

{2} The middle Iron Age pit alignment extended across Area 3 for 18m, comprising six pits which were broadly square or circular in plan, 1.11-2.4m in diameter and 0.58-1.24m deep. No evidence for the alignment was see further to the north-east, although the pits had been truncated by the boundary ditch which followed the same alignment.

The primary fill in all pits comprised a natural silting deposit. Where more than one fill was recorded, these comprised dumped refuse deposits including charcoal and fired clay. Four of the pits contained prehistoric pottery including one sherd dating to the Middle Iron Age. A piece of burnt animal bone and fragments of fired clay, possible part of a loomweight were also found.

The later ditch was concave in profile and measured 0.6–1.41m wide and 0.27–0.64m deep and contained 14 sherds of Late Prehistoric pottery. The alignment of the ditch, which broadly followed that of the pit alignment, suggests that the pit alignment was still visible in this area when the ditch was created, and may therefore represent a renewal of the pit alignment boundary. The ditch formed the south-eastern boundary of a trackway/droveway, the northern ditch of which was not visible as a cropmark.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Garland, N, 2017, Sandy Lane Improvement North, Northampton: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design, March 2017 (Report). SNN110981.

<3> Banks, P, 2018, Sandy Lane Improvement North, Northampton: Summary Publication (Report). SNN111351.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:27PM