Monument record 6882/0/3 - Late Iron Age/Early Romano-British Enclosure

{1} The linear anomalies in the geophysical survey results represent buried ditches that once formed enclosures.
At the western end of trench 2 was a recut ditch. The earlier ditch was aligned north west to south east and was 1.2m in width with steeply sloping sides to an uneven base 0.9m deep. The single fill produced fragments of late Iron Age/ early Roman pottery and animal bone. The recut of the ditch was on the same alignment and wholly within the edges of the previous ditch. It was 0.84, wide and 0.65m deep with a V-shaped profile with steeply sloping sides. The fill contained mid-late Iron Age and late Iron Age/ early Roman pottery, fired clay, cattle and pig bone and heat affected stone. A sample taken from this context produced significant amounts of charcoal and some charred cereal grains.
This feature was also seen in trench 5. The cut for the ditch was 1.8m wide and at least 1.3m deep, although it was not possible to bottome this feature was safe working depths had been reached. It had steeply sloping sides, which flared out at the top. The lowest fill encountered comprised mottled dark grey-orange brown organic silty clay containing some fired clay, significant amounts of charcoal and some charred cereal grains. This was overlain by organic light brown silty clay that contained late Iron Age/ early Roman pottery and cattle bone. These fills appear to represent the accumulation of silts in the base of the ditch in a wet environment. A slump deposit overlay this fill and an episode of silting containing mid-late Iron Age pottery overlay this. The ditch was finally infilled by a dump of dark brown clay loam.

{2} Within Enclosure 1 was a smaller sub-enclosure defined by an L-shaped ditch. Inside this area were three small pits or postholes and a short length of gully. Gaps between either end of the L-shaped ditch and the enclosure ditches would have provided access.The L-shaped ditch created a sub-division within the northern part of Enclosure 1. This was 52m long and up to 1.6m wide x 1.3m deep. The steeply sloping sides were generally straight and near vertical, even undercut in places, probably as a result of erosion. The base was concave. It is likely that this ditch also filled up rapidly, as evidence of slumping suggests.
A small gully extended beyond the northern terminal of the ditch for a further 3.5m. It is likely that this was a secondary development, as the upper fill of the ditch extended to fill this gully. It may have been intended to narrow the large gap between the end of the ditch and the surrounding enclosure ditch.

<1> Burke J.; Yates A.; Fisher I., 2010, Archaeological Geophysical Survey and Trial Trench Evaluation on land Off School Lane, Hartwell, Northamptonshire, p.2-4 (checked) (Report). SNN107195.

<2> Walker C.; Burke J., 2012, Archaeological Excavation at School Lane, Hartwell, Northamptonshire: Assessment Report and Updated Project Design, p.8 (checked) (Report). SNN109201.

<3> Finn, C., Chapman, A., Walker C. And Burke J., 2015, Late Iron Age and early Roman settlement at School Lane, Hartwell, Northamptonshire 2015, p.8 (checked) (Report). SNN110428.

<4> Finn, C., Chapman, A., Burke, J., and Walker, C., 2019, Late Iron Age and early Roman settlement at School Lane, Hartwell, p. 119-144 (Article). SNN111730.

Record last edited

Nov 5 2019 2:52PM