Monument record 485/0/6 - Probable medieval quarry pits

A dense concentration of pits, many of which had vertical sides with irregular plans, suggesting that they could be related to quarrying for clay.

{1} Many of the pits have vertical sides and are irregular in plan suggesting that they could be related to quarrying for the clay. Pit [51] contained a higher density of grain and it is suggested that this could represent waste from parching in an oven, a process used to harden the grain prior to grinding, or
to make it less susceptible to disease and insect attack during storage. In addition the presence of germinated oats might represent waste from malting kilns. Pottery from some of the pits comprised St Neots, Stamford, Shelly Coarse and Lyveden Stanion A dating from the mid or later 12th to the 13th centuries. One of the pits also contained green glaze pottery in North Midland White Ware dating to the 13th or 14th centuries. Three pits in Areas 2 and 3 contained later medieval pottery suggesting that activity may have continued on the site into the 16th century.

During the medieval period it seems that this area was predominantly used for rubbish pits and quarrying. There are no obvious features that correspond with the cropmarks marking the boundary plots, although in general the features run on a similar alignment.

<1> Clarke, S. And Flavell, N., 2014, An archaeological excavation on land adjacent to the former Sun Inn, Main Street, Marston Trussell, Northamptonshire, p.19-24 (Report). SNN110189.

Record last edited

Sep 25 2023 3:29PM