Monument record 1742/1 - Late Saxon settlement (AD950-1100), West Cotton

The earliest development of the late Saxon settlement in the late 10th century comprised a palisade enclosure, and a timber hall and separate domestic range within. At least three successive mills were built at West Cotton, the earliest vertical-wheeled and the two later both horizontal-wheeled. Pottery and radiocarbon dates indicate a construction for the third watermill at around the middle of the 11th century with abandonment before the middle of the 12th century.

{1} Part of the wider West Cotton excavations. Complex of timber buildings comprising a hall (25m in length) and an attached range of domestic apartments. Ancillary buildings to south and west. The complex gave the impression of a defended settlement with substantial ditch, internal palisade and probably a bank. Later development of the hall involved backfilling of the ditch and rearrangement of the complex around a central open courtyard. Defenses for domestic settlement - substantial ditch with internal palisade and bank. The ditch was later backfilled.

{2} The formation of West Cotton is dated to the C10th and appears to have comprised a formal layout of regular rectangular plots bounded by ditches within an almost square area of some 2.4ha to the west of Cotton Lane. The plot layout is most regular to the west and north where the individual plots are bounded by the western and northern mill leats. To the north-east the plots are less regular but this may be the result of the need to respect the natural boundary marked by the northern stream channel. It is also notable that the alignment of Cotton Lane has a sharply angled dog-leg at the south-east corner of the main settlement area. The reason for this is unknown, but may derive from the realignment of a pre-existing road to respect the planned layout of the new settlement.

A complex of timber buildings occupied the northernmost plot, and initially this was flanked on two sides by a substantial ditch with internal palisade and probably a bank. This arrangement would at least have provided the appearance of a defended settlement.
The major range comprised a hall with attached domestic apartments. Ancillary buildings lay to the south and west.
Initially the building complex was flanked on two sides by a substantial ditch and there was an internal palisade and probably a bank. This arrangement would at least have provided the appearance of a defended settlement. The ditch was subsequently backfilled.

{3} The establishment of the settlement most likely post-dated the reconquest of the Danelaw, which occurred between AD 918-24, and West Cotton can be seen to be part of a widespread episode of social and economic reorganisation of the Danelaw in the following decades. Part of this process may be typified by the appearnace of new planned settlements with a regular arrangement of ditched plots. The settlement area was almost square and rectangular plots were defined by linear boundary ditches divided into three principal zones; the northern holding comprising a high status building complex and a closely adjacent watermill, the eastern enclosures and the southern holding which was not excavated, but is assumed to have contained another building complex.

The earliest watermill, built in the late 10th century, was a vertical-wheeled, undershot mill. Millstone Grit, lava and at least one finer sandstone millstone were recovered from the leat fills, confirming its use as a corn mill. At the end of the 10th century, the settlement was reorganised and the original watermill demolished and the leat backfilled with sand and gravel. A new mill was probably constructed quite early in the 11th century. This was poorly preserved but was probably a horizontal-wheeled mill, as was its successor, which had been constructed by the mid-11th century. It seems likely that the excavated horizontal watermill is the watermill listed under Raunds at Domesday as worth only 12d. There is also a single later reference to a mill at West Cotton in an Inquisition Post Mortem of Joan Chamberlain in 1413. Its history is therefore uncertain, though there may be a link with the continued habitation of the cottage at West Cotton, perhaps for a hired mill hand, or with the later buildings to the east of Cotton Lane and adjacent to the brook, which may have been a medieval mill site.

{6} Excavation during 1985-89 of West Cotton by D. Windell. Recovered late C9th/early C10th features. Ditches divided the site of a later hamlet and formed rows of plots roughly east-west aligned. The only other features present were a small entrance-way structure and fencelines of posts posts and sub-dividing gullies.

<1> Parry S., 1993, Raunds Area Survey Report, p.93-94 (unchecked) (Draft). SNN1175.

<2> Parry S. et al, 2006, Raunds Area Survey: An Archaeological Study of The Landscape of Raunds, Northamptonshire 1985-94, p.176 (part checked0 (Book). SNN105780.

<3> Chapman A., 2011, West Cotton, Raunds: A Study of Medieval Settlement Dynamics AD450 - 1450 (Excavation of a Deserted Medieval Hamlet in Northamptonshire, 1985-89), p.30-78 (unchecked) (Book). SNN107508.

<4> 1987, Northamptonshire Archaeology Unit: Report for 1987, (checked) (Report). SNN55128.

<5> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Photographs). SNN104822.

<6> Windell D., 1988, SUPPLEMENTARY FILE, (unchecked) (Interim Note). SNN51885.

<7> Windell D., 1988, SMR REPORT FORM, (unchecked) (Note). SNN53806.

<8> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.81-3 Site 20 (checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<9> FOARD G.; WINDELL D., 1983, Unpublished Earthwork Plan, (unchecked) (Plan). SNN59106.

<10> McKerracher, M, 2022, Radiocarbon dating archaeobotanical remains from West Cotton, Raunds (Digital archive). SNN115668.

<11> Young S.M.; Clark J.; Barry T., 1988, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1987, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN878.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2024 11:16AM