Monument record 4609/0/1 - Prehistoric or Romano-British Double-Ditched Enclosure

A double-ditched enclosure initially identified as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The southern arms of the enclosure have been investigated prior to development. A small group of flint tools has been recovered from the outer ditch, but otherwise no dateable artefacts have been found. The flint assemblage has a possible early Neolithic date. It is suspected that the feature has been heavily truncated by arable farming leaving only the sterile lower silting and erosion fills. Immediately to the south was a sub-circular enclosure. A single flint piercer was recovered from the ditch upper fill.

{1} Cropmark in the area of New Duston Road, flown by R.Hollowell.

{2} A perfectly rectilinear double-ditched enclosure.

{3} It lies close to the edge of the field and is truncated by the field boundary. 80 x 54m externally, 64 x 42m internally.

{4} After examining the site on the ground (including a dowsing survey) and through aerial photography D Blackburn speculates that the cropmark may show a possible Roman fort or an iron age feature.

{5} Possible prehistoric enclosure (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation). Crop/soilmark: Good quality photography.

{7} A single linear anomaly was detected close to the known cropmark enclosure. The linear anomaly may denote a ditch alignments but its relatinship to the cropmark is not clear.

{8} Further more detailed geophysics showed the anomaly described in {7} to be geological in nature.

{9} A linear ditch probably forming the southern side of this enclosure and a pit were identified. The pit was only partly revealed within the limit of the trench and appeared to be circular with a 1.00 m diameter and 0.40 m deep. Excavation revealed a flat base and steeply sloped sides. The ditch was of similar dimensions and aligned east to west. Both features were devoid of any finds.

{10} The south-western corner of the double-ditched enclosure was observed within Trench 30. The outer ditch was aligned north-south and was 1.2m wide x 0.45m deep, with a V-shaped profile. The inner ditch was 4.70m to the east of the outer, and only its corner was present within the trench. The southern, outer edge was steep and the ditch was at least 0.80m wide x 0.50m deep.
A lack of pottery or other material artefacts may suggest that any focus of settlement activity was some distance away from the features recorded.
The double-ditched enclosure lies largely outside of the area investigated. Thus far fieldwork has failed to recover any dating evidence form the ditches. However, the form of monument suggests that it may date to the Roman period. Similar double-ditched enclosures have been found at Upton, where they dated to the C2nd AD, and appear to have defined field systems or stock corrals, at some distance from settlement. Further isolated ditches identified within the evaluation area may date to this period and represent elements of field systems.

{11} Partial excavation of the southern arms of the enclosure was undertaken. An entrance was evident. The internal ditch was at least partially segmented. It is likely that a significant part of the feature had been truncated by arable farming, leaving only the largely sterile lower silting and erosion fills. A small group of flint tools and debitage, of Bronze Age or earlier date was recovered from the outer ditch, but no other dateable material was recovered.
From cropmark evidence, the internal perimeter of the outer ditch was approximately 240m, enclosing an area of 3600m2 (3.6ha). The internal ditch perimeter would have been roughly 192m; enclosing an area of 2,304m2 (0.23ha). This gives a good approximate indication of how much space may have existed within the enclosure, though provision should be made for an internal bank which may have existed along the inner edge of the internal ditch, thus reducing the useable space yet further.
A sub-circular enclosure was also partially exposed immediately to the south. It was cut by the outer ditch (at least) of the double-ditched enclosure. A flint piercer was recovered from the upper ditch fill; its light colour indicating a possible Neolithic date.

{14} Geophysical survey detected two curving linear trends which correspond with this feature.

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

<2> FOARD G.R., 1979, Oral Report to SMR, (checked) (Oral Report). SNN51402.

<3> Holmes M., 1992, Northampton, North-West Bypass: Archaeological Survey, Stage 1, p.6 (checked) (Report). SNN73443.

<4> Blackburn D., 1999, Interim Report, Dyves Heath, Harlestone, Northampton, (checked) (Interim Report). SNN45667.

<5> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, NCCAP:SP7163/008-10 (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<6> Blackburn D., 1999, Dyves Heath, (checked) (Typescript Report). SNN100648.

<7> MASTERS P., 1998, Geophysical Reconaissance Survey at Dallington Grange, Northampton, (checked) (Report). SNN42648.

<8> Masters, P., 1998, Geophysical Survey at Dallington Grange, Northampton, (checked) (Report). SNN42647.

<9> Laws G., 2007, Dallington Grange, Northampton: Archaeological Evaluation Report, June 2007, p.12 (checked) (Report). SNN107409.

<10> Walker C.; Wolframm-Murray Y., 2012, An Archaeological Evaluation of Land at Dallington Gateway, Northampton September 2012, p.13+16+20 (checked) (Report). SNN109265.

<11> Chinnock, C & Muldowney, M, 16/6, Archaeological mitigation at Dallington Gateway, Harlestone Road, Northampton August to October 2014 (Report). SNN111345.

<12> Crank, N. (Editor), 2017, South Midlands Archaeology (47), p. 42 (Journal). SNN111362.

<13> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 99, Fig 78/Site 5 (Series). SNN77381.

<14> Cockcroft, T, 2022, Geophysical Survey Report Land At Dallington, Northampton (Report). SNN115618.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:26PM