Monument record 153/2 - Middle Iron Age grain processing and storage site, Brackley Sawmills

Archaeological excavation revealed a middle Iron Age settlement which was located within a naturally formed hollow. The economy of the settlement appeared to be focused on grain processing and storage. The settlement was part of a wider area of contemporary activity.

{1} Trial trench excavation at the Sawmills site identified an area of Iron Activity in the north-western part. In trench 7 there were five large post holes, U-shaped, measuring 0.34m to 0.47m in diameter and 0.15m to 0.49m deep. One post hole contained some burnt stone fragments and the stone in another may have been for packing. All but one yielded Iron Age pottery sherds.
The large amount of charcoal in sample 5 could be the result of deliberate burning with the presence of charred cereal grain suggesting that straw was used for kindling.
A buried topsoil layer was seen in trenches 3, 5, 6 and 7 and contained Iron Age pottery (and 2 Romano-British sherds).

{4} Archaeological excavation was undertaken at the Sawmills site. The deposits filling the natural hollow revealed intensive Iron Age activity. The initial phases were primarily focussed on intensive use of the area for grain storage, with features comprising several structures, grain storage pits, postholes, a possible well and working area.

A roundhouse may have functioned as a threshing building and contained internal partitions that may have been used to direct air-flow. A further structure, comprising a small continuous ring ditch, 5.8m in diameter, may have been a hayrick. It probably directly replaced a four-post structure. Further four- and five-post granary structures were also located within the hollow. Forty-six pits were identified. Most of the discrete pits were located on the higher chalk ground in the north and west of the area and had steep or vertical sides, flat bases and were likely to have been used to store grain. The west edge of the main area of pits appears to have been delineated by a pit alignment. Some of the pits contained large quantities of charred grain. The partial remains of a ewe were found at the base of one pit.
A complex of shallow pits and hollows may have been a working area- two of the hollows may have been flues. Along with traces of burning and charcoal, suggests this area may have been used to heat the grain and burn off the chaff.

Later Iron Age activity may have been associated with the abandonment of the site including a closure pit with the main structure within which was a deliberate deposit of a reaping hook with bone handle, a small whetstone and a distressed fragment of representational quern.

<1> Wolframm-Murray, Y., 2011, Trial trench evaluation at Brackley Sawmills, Brackley, Northamptonshire, p.6,19 (checked) (Report). SNN108129.

<2> Chapman P. (Editor), 2012, Archaeology in Northamptonshire, 2011, 37/209 (checked) (Chapter). SNN108375.

<3> Horne B. (Editor), 2012, South Midlands Archaeology (42), 42/28 (checked) (Journal). SNN108346.

<4> Muldowney, M., 2016, Archaeological Mitigation at the Sawmills site, Northampton Road, Brackley, Northamptonshire, September to November 2014 (Report). SNN111059.

<5> Stephen Morris, 2023, A Middle Iron Age settlement at Foxhills, Brackley (Article). SNN116515.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 10:09AM