Monument record 727/10/8 - Defensive Ditch (Possibly Civil War in Date, But Possibly Earlier)

Archaeological investigation identified a large ditch which may relate to the 17th-century, Civil War re-fortification of the town.

{1} A ditch was identified within Trench 1. It was excavated to a depth of 1.4m but not bottomed as the water table was encountered. The ditch had a flared profile, 2.7m at the top, narrowing as it deepened. The north-western edge of the ditch had a near vertical side to a depth of 0.5m, below which it sloped more gradually to c.1m deep, at which point the side again became vertical. C18th pottery was recovered from the upper layers of the ditch, along with brick fragments. These overlaid silt which contained a residual sherd of Roman pottery and fragments of a clay pipe bowl. The lowermost fill which it was possible to excavate contained both medieval and Roman pottery, as well as oyster shells, frequent animal bone, glass and roof tile fragments.
The ditch was cut into several layers of clay, the earliest excavated of which produced exclusively Roman pottery of the C1st/C2nd.
The ditch was substantial and may represent the re-fortification of Towcester during the Civil War, or an earlier cut of the defensive Roman ditch. The ditch was cut into several layers of clay, the earliest excavated of which produced exclusively Roman pottery of the C1st/C2nd. It was not possible to excavate these layers further because of health and safety considerations. Potential Roman occupation layers were also located, these truncated by the later ditch.Only a small number of pottery sherds was recovered from the ditch which makes it difficult to give a certain date for its cutting and backfilling.
Excavation of Trench 2 was suspended at a depth of 0.85m as no pre-modern archaeology was encountered within it.

{2} Following the discovery of a substantial ditch during an earlier evaluation, further investigation confirmed that the ditch was 2m deep and contained abraded Roman pottery and post-medieval tile fragments. Its location and relation to other archaeological sites in the area suggests that this ditch could relate to the 17th century fortification of the town.

<1> Clarke V., 2001, Archaeological Evaluation, 17 Richmond Road, Towcester, Northamptonshire, p.4-5+7 (checked) (Report). SNN100857.

<2> CBA South Midlands Group (Group 9), 2002, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (32), p. 31 (Journal). SNN102413.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2022 3:20PM