Monument record 2148/3 - Late Iron Age enclosed settlement, Clay Lane

Cropmarks of a large, sub-square enclosure with internal features were identified on aerial photographs. The enclosure was subsequently excavated in 1980 prior to gravel quarrying. Within the large enclosure there were two round-houses, two rectangular structures, drainage gullies, a small enclosure and two large ovens. Further gullies, another round-house and a small enclosure were found outside the enclosure. All the features dated to the late Iron Age. The layout of the enclosure was apparently constrained by earlier boundaries.

{3} Excavation of a large late Iron Age enclosure and surrounding occupation. The area was occupied from the
beginning of the late pre-Belgic Iron Age, if not earlier. The enclosure encompassed an area of 60m x 65m defined by a large, recut ditch. The enclosure remained organised on broadly similar lines throughout its occupation. In the north were two roundhouses which were represented by recut penannular drainage gullies but internally neither showed much evidence of the actual structure. In the south-east was a sub-enclosure, presumably for stock. In the south-west was another penannular structure. Another area of occupation was excavated to the west of the enclosure which comprised a roundhouse and a small enclosure.

{6} Excavation of the Iron Age enclosure at Clay Lane was carried out after identification of the area on AP. The main site revealed pits and gullies, evidence suggests the main ditch had been recut several times. Finds from the ditches included mid to late Iron Age sherds, a large quantity of animal bone, with complete skulls of several horses and cattle, antler and also the contracted inhumation of a child. From the interior of the enclosure came a bronze fibula, fragments of several clay loom weights and spindle whorls with a variety of later Iron Age pottery and many fragments of industrial waste mostly identified as bronze working slag.

{7} The animal bone deposits for this period appear to be rather mixed, but with, perhaps, an emphasis on secondary butchery waste.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Windell D., 1982, Excavations at Clay Lane 1980 Level III: Structural Evidence, p.48 (checked) (Report). SNN75685.

<3> Windell D., 1983, Clay Lane 1980: Interim Report - An Iron Age and Roman Rural Settlement at Clay Lane, Earls Barton, p.39 (checked) (Article). SNN40207.

<4> , 1979, A45 NEW ROAD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS 1978-9 (Report). SNN76837.

<5> Walford, J, 2018, Archaeological geophysical survey at Earls Barton Spinney Quarry, Earls Barton Northamptonshire February 2018 (Report). SNN112765.

<6> Hall D. (Editor), 1980, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (10), p. 24-26 (Journal). SNN22466.

<7> Jones, RT, Levitan, B, Stevens, P & Malim, T, 1985, Clay Lane, Northamptonshire: The Vertebrate Remains (Report). SNN115254.

<8> Wilthew, P, 1983, Technological finds from Clay Lane, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN115255.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 8:17PM