Monument record 726/0/59 - Romano-British Building

[N.B. digitised area is the minimum area the building covers.]

{1} The new trench uncovered and sectioned a pre-motte earthwork covering earlier structural remains. These comprised a substantial Roman mortared limestone wall 1.10m wide. To the south of the wall for a distance of 5.6m lay a regular configuration of ceramic tile pilae, or hypocaust-supports, set onto a mortar surface. The surviving pilae, which measured 275mm x 275mm (ie. 1 Roman foot) in plan were only one or two courses high, while many were represented only by tile impressions in the mortar. However, together they are probably indicative of a major Roman public building. The Roman floor which would have been supported on the pilae had been removed by later activity. The loss of Roman fabric in the post-Roman robbing was almost total.
The other side of the wall foundation comprised a black loam containing Roman pottery, which suggests it lay outside the building.
It is not clear exactly when the Roman building was demolished and robbed or cleared down to its reduced state, but it must have taken place between the late C4th and the C12th. The considerable deposit which had accumulated over the robbed remains, by its very size of up to 2m in height, must have been clearly visible to the builders of the motte, who then used its presence on this side to give them a head start in heaping up their own castle earthwork.
The discovery of part of a major Roman public building with under-floor hypocaust heating was unexpected. Whilst its extent remains unknown its future as part of the medieval motte and bailey monument is secure. It also hints at the potential former civic importance of this quarter of Towcester in the Roman period.

<1> Soden I., 2010, An Archaeological Watching Brief at Bury Mount, Towcester, Northamptonshire, 2008-2010, p.5-6+9 (checked) (Report). SNN107910.

Record last edited

Jan 9 2015 1:27PM