Monument record 849/0/20 - Medieval Boundaries and post-medieval buildings, Mill Lane

Archaeological evaluation and subsequent observation during development identified medieval plot boundaries. Two groups of stone wall foundations may be the remains of cottages or boundary walls dating to the 16th century or later.

{1} Trench 1 contained six post holes and a gully, none producing any artefactual material. Three small post holes at the eastern end of the trench were all approx 0.2m in diamter and no more than 0.11m deep with concave profiles. Another posthole immediately north of the gully was 0.18m in diameter and 0.03m deep. The two postholes at the western end of the trench were between 0.28-0.33m in diamater and up to 0.11m deep. The postholes do not seem to represent substantial levels of activity and are likelt to be fence lines or other ad-hoc activity.
The gully was aligned north west to south east and was between 0.4-0.5m wide and up to 0.09m deep. The irregular shallow nature of the feature may indicate that it is a previous hedge line.

Trench 3 contained a recut ditch. This was aligned approx north east to south west and was at least 1.6m wide. The earliest cut was to the south with the recuts progressing northwards. The fills of the ditch produced medieval pottery and animal bone. The ditch probably represents a property boundary leading from Mill Lane.
A circular pit 0.64m in diameter and 0.06m deep cut the ditch.

The subsoil in trench 1 contained three sherds of pottery, one of which was medieval in date.
Trench 3 produced three sherds of medieval pottery and a cattle molar.

{2} Observation of the development identified series of linear ditches, which produced medieval pottery spanning the 11th to 15th centuries, are probably medieval village plot boundaries. Two groups of stone wall foundations, one of which post-dated a medieval ditch system, may be the remains of cottages or boundary walls, dating to the 16th century or later. More recent building remains were also observed.

In Plot 2 there was a short length of ditch curving slightly south-east, but it was not picked up in the garage foundations of Plot 1 to the south. Its fill included a small amount of pottery dated to the mid C13th.

To the west was the corner of another ditch, cutting the former. Its fill contained a sherd of st Neots ware as well as the coarseware pottery.

Further to the south, the Plot 2 garage foundations revealed another ditch, aligned north-south. It was 1.10m wide x 0.35m deep. At the base of the ditch was a concentration of large sherds of Potterspury ware and late medieval oxidised wares, C13th –C16th, coming from two vessels. As this ditch has a similar alignment to Mill Lane, it possibly represents a later back plot boundary. Two small oval pits to the south of the boundary ditch were probably contemporary as one contained C11th St Neots Ware pottery as well as sandy and shelly coursewares dating to the C15th, and animal bone. To the south of these was a short length of gully, north-south aligned, the fill of which also contained shelly courseware pottery. A further single pit to the south-west was also probably contemporary but contained no finds.

Further west, Plot 3 revealed the terminals of two ditches which had very similar fills to those in Plot 2. One contained shelly coarseware pottery of C12th to C15th date. A posthole and a small pit, although undated, were probably broadly contemporary with the ditches. These features may be associated with the six undated postholes and gully recorded within Trench 1 of the earlier evaluation work which was carried out.

Two parallel wall foundations in Plot 2 were 6m apart and ran on a north-west to south-east alignment. They were constructed of roughly hewn limestone and large river cobbles within a clay and pebble matrix. The westernmost wall was at least 9m long. Both walls were 0.60m wide x 0.25m high. There were no finds, but one wall cut a ditch which was C15th at latest. It is possible that the walls also relate to a stone drain which was revealed in the earlier evaluation work on the site.
In the foundations of the Plot 1 garage 8m to the south-east was a further L-shaped wall foundation. This wall was 0.7m wide x 0.50m high, with a similar construction to the other two, including limestone, ironstone and river cobbles. The foundation fill contained Potterspury ware dating to between 1250 and 1600. An oval pit lay within the angle of this wall, but its relationship to the wall was not established.

During the excavation of a soakaway at the extreme north-west of the site 19 sherds of C12th to C15th pottery, including Potterspury ware, were recovered from the subsoil. This might suggest that the rear of the plot was used for cultivation and that the pottery remained in the subsoil due to manuring practices during the medieval period.

<1> Wolframm-Murray, Y. & Yates, A., 2012, Archaeological Trial Trench Evaluation at 27 Mill Lane, Kislingbury, Northamptonshire, p.8 (checked) (Report). SNN108476.

<1> Foard-Colby A., 2014, A Programme of Archaeological Observation, Investigation and Recording on Land at 27 Mill Lane, Kislingbury, Northamptonshire, September–October 2013, p.6-9 (checked) (Report). SNN109896.

Record last edited

May 21 2021 11:01AM