Monument record 3619/0/20 - Medieval/ post medieval hollow way

{1} Detailed survey over an area of linear anomolies to the north west of the old mill leat recovered a hollow way close to the village earthworks.

{2} A shallow and somewhat indistinct hollow way which continues the line of South Street.

{3} A hollow-way/field boundary is aligned south-west to north-east across the site corresponding to a feature interpreted as a hollow-way forming the original continuation of South Street leading to the River Ise, in the 1979 RCHME survey. The RCHME survey was carried out using aerial photographs and as a result highlighted the features north of this hollow-way as house platforms for the SMV of Isham. The current survey found no evidence for house platforms and as such is uncertain whether this feature is a hollow-way or may be a field boundary marking the change in use from agricultural in the south, represented by ridge and furrow, to a more settlement based land use to the north.

Subsequent trial trenching indicated that it was actually a large and long-lived field boundary, in use from the medieval period to the 18th century, that also marked the extent of the settlement because ridge and furrow extends up to, but not beyond, its south side, thus also indicating the open-field system that surrounds the village.

<1> Holmes M., 1996, A509 Isham Bypass Archaeological Evaluation, Stage 2: Fieldwalking and Geophysical Surveys, p.4 (checked) (Report). SNN72827.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.101 site 5 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

<3> Finn, C., Ladocha, J. and Muldowney, M., 2015, Archaeological trial trench evaluation and earthwork survey on land at Mill Lane, Isham, Northamptonshire July 2015, (checked) (Report). SNN110265.

Record last edited

Apr 26 2016 1:43PM