Monument record 3736 - Late Iron Age/Early Romano-British enclosure and early Romano-British rectilinear enclosure system

A sub-square Iron Age enclosure dated to the late 2nd/early 1st century BC to the early 1st century AD was of the Wootton Hill type. The enclosure contained a single roundhouse with another located just outside and two further roundhouses to the south. Storage pits were found both within and outside the enclosure. Pottery broadly dated to the middle-late Iron Age. In the late iron Age/early Roman period, the settlement was modified to create a series of conjoined enclosures, a 'ladder'-type of enclosure system, which incorporated the Wootton Hill-style enclosure. Later the settlement grew to nearly 2ha in size and included a walled enclosure and at least one stone-founded building. Evidence for crop-processing comprised six possible drying ovens, most with evidence for the parching of spelt wheat but one that may have been associated with malting.

{1} A pipeline trench cut in 1973 revealed a number of pits and ditches containing late Iron Age pottery. Further Iron Age and Roman pottery was found in the adjacent area.

{3} Two main historic periods are represented: probable continuous domestic occupation from the late Iron Age, through the Belgic period into the early Roman period in the north of the site and Roman remains of the 3rd/ 4th century AD on the east side. It seems likely that the archaeology in the development area is part of a much bigger archaeological landscape since Iron Age features and Roman pottery were found in a pipe trench in 1974, nearly 100m to the north of the development area.

{5} An excavation of land at Mallards Close was undertaken in 2001. The excavations were too limited to locate the full extent of the Roman enclosure systems. Similarly, what appears to be the core of the later Roman settlement to the south, apparently set within a walled enclosure had been largely lost to quarrying.

In the late Iron Age a broad, deep ditch enclosing a sub-square area measuring 25m east-west, and enclosing an area of 0.06ha was constructed. There was a single entrance on the western side, just south of centre, but no formal gateway marked by post-pits. Although there was no clear evidence for an internal bank, no features of Iron Age date were found within 2m of the ditch, suggesting there may have been a narrow bank, perhaps using large blocks of ironstone and limestone to form steep revetments.

The sub-square Iron Age enclosure is securely dated to a period of no more than c100-150 years between the late 2nd or early 1st century BC to the early 1st century AD. Given the consistent nature of the pit fills and the lack of intercutting, it is further suggested that the actual duration of the occupation may have been considerably less than this, perhaps a period of no more than 50 years, or even only a single generation, from the mid- to late-1st century BC and into the early 1st century AD.

The east enclosure ditch was just over 4m wide and more than 1.1m deep, and was not bottomed. It was filled with several levels, the latter of which seem to be a deliberate backfilling, possibly in the Belgic period. The fills has large quantities of animal bone and some large sherds which may represent a dump of domestic waste. The finds included large pieces of late Iron Age and Belgic pottery and over 1kg of animal bone.

Much of the available space within the enclosure was occupied by numerous pits. There would not have been space for it to contain a roundhouse so it is therefore possible that the enclosure was only occupied by the pit groups and any associated domestic buildings would have lain elsewhere. There was an irregular scatter of postholes or small pits in the centre of the enclosure, containing a considerable amount of late Iron Age pottery. In the south-eastern corner of the enclosure were four large storage pits with late Iron Age pottery and Belgic pottery, and antler working debris. In the north western part of the enclosure there was a group of smaller pits. One of the pits contained a possible piece of antler working waste, a complete saddle quern, 70% of all fired clay from the site and a single lump of iron slag, possibly from the lining of a smithing hearth. A new enclosure system was created in the early Roman period, replacing the earlier Wootton Hill type enclosure. The new system was quite different in appearance, with the deep-ditched enclosure replaced by shallow ditches that were recut on a number of occasions. The new ditches are therefore doing nothing more than acting to define a series of enclosed spaces presumably serving varying functions within the daily life of the settlement. The creation of this enclosure system is associated with Belgic-style pottery, indicating its origin in the middle of the 1st century AD in the decades immediately preceding the Roman conquest. The settlement was to continue in use in this form through the rest of the 1st century and into the early decades of the 2nd century. It would have served much the same mixed farming regime as was practiced in the late Iron Age.

A scatter of postholes in the southern part of the enclosure may have been a rectangular timber building with a cluster of shallow pits beside it. However, it is likely that the excavated enclosure was only the northern part of a more extensive settlement, and the main domestic focus may well have lain to the south, beneath the walled Roman enclosure.

The walled enclosure had been created by the mid-2nd century and it clearly denotes that this was a prosperous settlement generating a sufficient surplus to enable the owners to create a walled domestic enclosure probably at least some 50m square; fragmentary remains of three lengths of stone wall were exposed although the full details of the plan were not recovered.

A T-shaped oven, serving as a corn drier and/ or malting oven, dated to no earlier than the 2nd century. The surviving flue and chamber lining comprised up to 6 courses of small ironstone blocks bonded together with clay. Dating evidence indicates a late 2nd into 3rd century date for the oven.

{6} Geophysical survey of the area to the south and north of the previously excavated site at Mallards Close was undertaken. The survey was dominated by a north to south linear trend of rectilinear and sub oval enclosures on the eastern edge of the field, forming an extension to the previously excavated settlement. The enclosures appear to form a linear trend aligned approximately north-south, and may form part of a ‘ladder’ settlement. Internal features, pits and ditches, are evident within the enclosures. To the west of the enclosures, a series of discrete anomalies may indicate areas of pitting, although the substantial nature of some of these may indicate localised areas of previous extraction or watering holes.

{7} Trial trench excavation indicated that the settlement was at least 2ha in area and comprised a 'ladder'-type arrangement of enclosures. The settlement continued either side of the earlier excavation at Mallard Close, although no evidence of the substantial Wootton Hill type enclosure appears to have been found.
The recutting of a number of ditches indicates continuity in layout. The pottery assemblage indicates a late Iron Age origin with the main period of occupation in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The presence of small quantities of 3rd century AD pottery indicates at least some form occupation continued into this period. The interior of the ditched enclosures appear to have been sub-divided by a series of ditches and some internal activity was indicated by a small number of pits and postholes. A hand-made slab fragment from an oven suggests that at least one existed in the settlement.
Stone wall footings and possible foundation trenches, as well as a large quantity of wall/ceiling plaster from a pit, indicate the presence of fairly substantial buildings.

{8, 9} Excavation was undertaken in 2016, immediately to the north and south-west of the excavations of 2004. The northern half of the substantial middle Iron Age enclosure (Wootton-Hill style) already identified and part-excavated during earlier stages was excavated along with two other roundhouses in the unenclosed area to the south. Storage pits were found within the enclosure and to the south. During the late Iron Age/early Roman period the settlement was modified to create a series of conjoined enclosures in a loose linear arrangement. A broadly north-south aligned routeway was created along the western edge of the settlement; to the north it joined an eat-west aligned routeway. In the Roman period further modifications were made creating a series of enclosures to the north and south. The settlement appears to extend further south and east. The settlement contained evidence for a single possible roundhouse, stonework, drying ovens, two wells and four inhumations, including a prone, decapitated adult male.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 40/Site 9 (Series). SNN77380.

<2> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1974, Archaeology In Northamptonshire 1973 (Article). SNN9109.

<3> Atkins R.; Masters P., 2000, An Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment, Geophysical Survey & Trial Excavation on Land Off Mallard Close, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, p.8-9 (checked) (Report). SNN103093.

<4> 2000-01, Earls Barton, Mallard Close, (unchecked) (Note). SNN103978.

<5> Chapman A.; Atkins R., 2004, Iron Age and Roman Settlement at Mallard Close, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire (Article). SNN112188.

<5> Chapman A.; Atkins R., 2005, Iron Age and Roman Settlement at Mallard Close, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, p.8-9 (part checked) (Full Report). SNN105281.

<6> Ladocha J.; Fisher I., 2013, Archaeological Geophysical Survey on land south of Main Road, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN109879.

<7> Barker, J and Luke, M., 2014, Land to the South of Main Road, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Field Evaluation (Report). SNN110611.

<8> Crank, N. (Editor), 2017, South Midlands Archaeology (47), p. 33-34 (Journal). SNN111362.

<9> Luke, M, & and Barker, J, 2022, Iron Age and Roman settlement and a Bronze Age ring-ditch at Main Road, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire (Monograph). SNN114228.

Record last edited

Feb 26 2025 8:02PM