Monument record 1176/0/13 - Possible medieval building, Church Lane

Archaeological investigation prior to development identified a medieval building from about 1250 onwards. The building was ruinous and largely robbed of materials by c1700.

{1} Archaeological evaluation of land at Church Street in 2011 identified a medieval pit, a medieval stone wall foundation, a pond or quarry pit and a 17th-century rubbish pit. The limestone wall was at least four courses high, the lower course as wide as its foundation trench and the upper three courses stepped in and approx 0.5m wide. The stone were clay bonded, a material from which medieval pottery was recovered. There was no floor surfave or finds associated with the wall - this suggests that the wall may have been a plot boundary rather than a building.
A small oval-shaped pit, half of which lay beyond the limit of the trench was located at the north end of the L-shaped trench. It had a shallow, U-shaped profile, 1.66m wide by 0.4m deep, filled with mied to dark brown-grey silty clay. Two sherds of medieval pottery, one of which was a rim sherd, were recovered from the fill.
A large pond/ quarry pit cut the natural gravels. Its full size and shape lay beyond the limit of the trench, except for its western edge which was at a 45 degree angle with a flat base. The upper deposit contained three sherds of medieval Potterspury ware.
The environmental sample contained a variety of snail species, indicating periods of wet and dryer conditions, which suggest that the feature may have silted up over a period of time.

{4} Subsequent excavation confirmed that the stone foundations were of a medieval building. The wall found in the current excavations was wider than that in the southerly return found in the evaluation. It also utilised many more stones and fewer flat blocks. This difference may reflect some form of change in the structure or the slightly higher survival of that further south may denote the superstructure proper. Pottery found in association with the wall strongly suggests it was built after 1250 but before 1500. Nothing remained upstanding much after 1700. At the north of the trench the wall was north-south aligned, turning west, then south, then west again.
The land on the eastern side of the plot was dominated by repeated inundations from the stream to the south within a hollow into which the stream banks overflowed. During the medieval period these flooding episodes ensured that semi-aquatic mollusc species colonised the area. Gradually the hollow, wgich contained slow or totally still water, silted up. It became marsh, then slowly dried out. By the end of the medieval period some form of occupation was able to spread as far as the pond's northern edge.

<1> Foard-Colby A., 2011, Archaeological Evaluation on Land in Church Lane, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire January 2011, p.10 (checked) (Report). SNN107259.

<2> Horne B. (Editor), 2012, South Midlands Archaeology (42), 42/30 (checked) (Journal). SNN108346.

<3> Chapman P. (Editor), 2012, Archaeology in Northamptonshire, 2011, 37/211 (checked) (Chapter). SNN108375.

<4> Soden I, 2012, Archaeological excavations in advance of development at Church Lane, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire, checked (Report). SNN110304.

Record last edited

Oct 14 2026 4:24PM