Monument record 5813/0/8 - Late Bronze Age to early middle Iron Age pit alignments, Upton

Two pit alignments, aligned roughly parallel at the east before diverging to the west. Most of the pottery from the pits was in poor condition.

{1} Trenches 9 and 11 were positioned to intercept an east-west pit alignment; three pits were revealed, one in trench 9 and two in trench 11. The pits contained a few fragments of probable Iron Age pottery.

{2} Archaeological excavation undertaken as part of the Cross Valley Link Road. The pit alignment is probably a continuation of the one investigated at Quinton House School (5813/0/1), Upton, a distance of c1.3km.
A line of five shallow pits, aligned east to west, was exposed at the southern end of the excavation area. There was considerable regularity in the shape, size depth and spacing of the pits. They were spaced c1-2m apart and were typically shallow and sub-angular in plan, with short, concave sides and flat bases. On the basis of the pottery recovered from one of the pits they probably date to the Iron Age. Several of the pits had been damaged by ploughing.

{3} Archaeological excavation prior to housing development to the east of the Cross Valley Link Road investigated nearly 0.5km of the alignment identified previously as well as finding another pit alignment to the south. The most precise dating evidence came from pit [63] where pottery recovered from the upper fill dated to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age.

{5} The excavation of these two pit alignments represents the most extensive investigation of this type of feature since the excavation of those at Wollaston in the 1990s. The monograph presents a detailed analysis of the two monuments.

<1> Foard-Colby A., 2006, Archaeological Trial Trench Evaluation on Land at Upton, Northampton (CVLR Phase), August-November 2006, p. 5 (checked) (Report). SNN105847.

<2> Carlyle S., 2008, An Iron Age Pit Alignment Near Upton, Northampton: Cross Valley Link Road (CVLR), Watching Brief and Strip, Map and Sample, pp.3 & 4 (checked) (Report). SNN106101.

<3> 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.

<4> 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.

<5> 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

Nov 27 2023 2:54PM