Monument record 3795 - Extensive late Iron Age/prehistoric settlement, Pytchley

Extensive settlement remains identified initially as cropmarks. Includes a possible Iron Age ceremonial site

{2} Cropmark enclosure complex.

{3} Magnetometer survey mapped approximately 5ha of archaeological remains on the eastern side of the main complex. The presence of remains within this area was already known from cropmarks, but the survey has provided much new information about their form, extent and complexity.
The archaeological remains comprise ditched enclosures, roundhouses, boundary ditches, a pit alignment, a trackway and a possible square barrow, all of which seem likely to date from the Iron Age and/or Roman periods. The most notable element within this complex is a large double-ditched rectilinear enclosure with annexes and internal structures, which bears comparison with a very late Iron Age ceremonial site excavated at Fison Way, Thetford. Particular points of similarity include the scale and form of the enclosure, the presence of a large central roundhouse and the presence of small satellite enclosures and possible burial monuments. This enclosure intersects with other features which are more suggestive of settlement or agricultural activity, and this indicates that the site as a whole saw prolonged occupation during which it underwent multiple phases of re-use and redevelopment

<1> Chapman A, 1998-9, Pytchley, Pytchley Golf Lodge, (unchecked) (Note). SNN104046.

<2> SHAW M.; STEADMAN S., 1992, A509 Isham Bypass Archaeological Evaluation, Stage 1: Supplementary Report, Site 33 (checked) (Report). SNN71612.

<3> Walford, J. and Meadows, A., 2014, Archaeological geophysical survey at Pytchley Lodge Farm, Kettering, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN110115.

Record last edited

Oct 17 2023 2:50PM