Monument record 7934/1 - Site of middle Bronze Age cremation cemetery and late Iron Age/Romano-British farmstead

Archaeological investigation during the construction of the Corby Link Road identified an unenclosed late Iron Age/Roman farmstead, comprising 5-6 roundhouses. An adjacent cemetery containing 30 unurned cremation burials was initially thought to be contemporary, but subsequent radiocarbon dating produced a series of middle Bronze Age dates.

{1} Two early Roman ditches were identified in adjacent trenches during archaeological evaluation along the proposed road route.

{2} Archaeological excavation during construction of the link road identified an unenclosed farmstead. The remains of 5-6 roundhouses were associated with a cemetery containing 30 unurned cremation burials.

{3} Occupation on the valley ridge, overlooking Harper's Brook to the south, began in the middle-late Iron Age. Initially, it appears to have been an open settlement, comprising a number of roundhouses. As settlement continued into the 1st century AD, with the construction of further roundhouses, boundary ditches were introduced. A small cremation cemetery, comprising 30 pits with varying quantities of human bone deposited in them, was associated with the occupation outside this enclosure to the east. Occupation at this location appears to have stretched over a considerable period from the middle Iron Age, with a peak period of activity of roughly 150-200 years in the 1st-2nd centuries AD. The site was abandoned in the early 2nd century AD, coinciding with disuse of enclosures in the valley bottom.

{4} Six samples from the cremation burials underwent radiocarbon analysis and all produced middle Bronze Age dates (not Roman as initially assumed).

<1> Upson-Smith T., 2005, A43 Corby Link Road: NGR SP861833 to 910872, Archaeological Geophysical Survey and Trial Excavation, p.9 & 12 (unchecked) (Report). SNN105624.

<2> Brown, J., The A43 Corby Link Road: Archaeological works conducted by Northamptonshire Archaeology (Lecture Notes). SNN111495.

<3> Brown, J, Markus, S, and Morris, S, 2019, An archaeological assessment and updated project design for the A43 Corby Link Road, Northamptonshire, June 2012-October 2013 (Report). SNN113099.

<4> Morris, S, Markus, S and Brown, J, 2023, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Saxon settlements along the route of the A43 Corby Link Road, Northamptonshire (Monograph). SNN115671.

Record last edited

Nov 28 2023 1:45PM