Monument record 3401/0/3 - Probable late Bronze Age/Iron Age enclosure

Two ditches found during trial trench evaluation may be part of a small enclosure. Pottery and a loomweight dated to the late Bronze Age-Iron Age.

{1} A group of positive linear anomalies was recorded in the middle of the site as part of a geophysical survey. Located alongside an existing boundary, this possibly forms a small animal enclosure or farmstead.

{2} Trial trench evaluation identified a ditch, which produced animal bone along with pottery and a loomweight of late Bronze Age to Iron Age date, suggesting settlement in the area. A second ditch on a perpendicular alignment to the first was found to the north. Both match up with anomalies identified during the geophysical survey and may be parts of a small enclosure.

{3} A strip, map and sample excavation was undertaken in 2015 in advance of a solar farm development. The entirety of the small, rectangular enclosure, identified during the preceding geophysical survey and trial trench evaluation, was uncovered apart from a section where an extant hedge passed over it. It had two entrances, close to the north and south corners. There was evidence of ditch recutting indicating some longevity. The southern enclosure ditch, which was more substantial than the other enclosure ditches, continued beyond the extent of excavation in both directions suggesting it also functioned as a boundary. A small assemblage of largely undiagnostic prehistoric pottery was recovered, although one fragment was probaby of later Bronze Age to early Iron Age date. This accorded with the ceramic evidence from the earlier evaluation. Environmental evidence for crop processing and animal husbandry was found in the ditch fills, along with fragments of an oven or hearth structure.

<1> Jefferson, N., 2014, Land at Horton Road, Brafield on the Green, Northamptonshire: Geophysical Survey, 2014 (Report). SNN110328.

<2> Failes, A., 2015, Archaeological evaluation on land off Horton Road, Brafield on the Green, Northamptonshire, checked (Report). SNN110161.

<3> Moulis, C. & Peachey, M., 2015, Archaeological investigtions on land off Horton Road, Brafield on the Green, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN111792.

Record last edited

Dec 9 2019 11:20AM