Monument record 4798/0/6 - Medieval settlement remains

One of two areas of medieval settlement identified during an archaeological investigation. The remains in this area were less subtantial than those to the north-west and there were fewer artefacts. The structure that was identified was probably a field barn.

{1} Trench 4 revealed two large, parallel north-east to south-west aligned ditches which cut the natural. The northernmost ditch was 1.10m wide x 0.48m deep with gradually sloping sides to a concave base. Its primary fill contained C12th-C15th pottery, whilst the upper fill contained evidence for burning. The ditch 15m to the south was 0.80m wide x 0.52m deep with irregular sides, gently sloping to the north and stepped to the south.
The terminus of a further narrow ditch was also revealed in the south of the trench. It was 0.5m wide x 0.3m deep, with a V-shaped profile.
The remnants of the building in Trench 5 are much less substantial than those in Trench 13, and this, along with the limited quantity of associated artefacts, suggests that it was possibly a small field barn, or outlying agricultural building, rather than being domestic in nature. This also suggests that the adjacent large ditches could be associated enclosure ditches for the containment of livestock, with one of them potentially extending as far north-east as Trench 6.

Trench 5 revealed features suggestive of a building. A small length of the footprint of a north-east to south-west aligned wall extended into the trench from the north-west section. A further robbed out wall cut was present immediately north-east of this.
A feature in the north-west facing section could be a possible ditch terminus, or pit, or even a wall foundation trench. It contained relatively large quantities of platy stone rubble and C12th to C13th pottery.
An area of compacted clay at least 5m long was present in the north-east end of the trench. This could be a former surface or occupation layer.
The remnants of the building in Trench 5 are much less substantial than those in Trench 13, and this, along with the limited quantity of associated artefacts, suggests that it was possibly a small field barn, or outlying agricultural building, rather than being domestic in nature. This also suggests that the adjacent large ditches could be associated enclosure ditches for the containment of livestock, with one of them potentially extending as far north-east as Trench 6.

{2} As a result of the small areas surveyed, landscape-scale features could not easily be identified, however, smaller scale features were recognisable wihtin both areas, the majority of likely archaeological features being represented by high-resistance anomalies strongly suggestive of structures, masonry or brick walls and/or possible spreads of demolition debris. The overall character of the anomalies strongly suggests the presence of substantial structures.

<1> Murray L., 2014, Archaeological Evaluation on Land at Hanslope Road, Hartwell, Northamptonshire, p.4+8 (checked) (Report). SNN109825.

<2> Johnson P., 2014, Hartwell, Hanslope Road, Northamptonshire: Report on Geophysical Suvey Conducted in April 2014, p.12 (checked) (Report). SNN109826.

Record last edited

May 17 2022 9:51AM