Monument record 5089/0/8 - Middle to late Iron Age settlement, Roman enclosures and Saxon barrow with satellite burials

An Iron Age rectangular enclosure with an internal roundhouse was replaced from the 1st century AD by enclosures and fields. A possible ploughed Saxon barrow had no internal burials but ten burials were located close by

{1}The main enclosure in Field 1 measures c 125m from north to south and is c 100m across at its widest point. Its southern arm is shadowed by a parallel ditch, c 10m to the south, with the two together perhaps defining the edges of a trackway. Within the enclosure there are two east-west partitions and a group of small pits, but the full extent and arrangement of these features is obscured by the magnetic halos from a modern gas pipe.

{2} Within Fields 1 and 3 was a more compact and more densely occupied square enclosure measuring 125m by 125m. The enclosure ditch measured 1.05m wide and was up to 0.47m deep.
Within the square enclosure were gullies and smaller ditches defining sub-enclosures. The gullies tended to have U-shaped profiles, averaged 0.60m wide and up to 0.40m deep. Postholes were recorded in two trenches, suggesting structural remains. A bulk soil sample from one ditch had a high content of seeds although very little charcoal or other charred plant remains. Within the enclosure, but not necessarily contemporary, was a ring ditch measuring 14.5m in diameter. The ditch was clearly defined, 1.1m wide by 0.63m deep with a narrow flat base rising to steep near vertical sides.
Another ditch was aligned south-east to north-west, 2.66m wide and 1m deep. Owing to the encroaching water table its full depth was ascertained by means of an auger. Animal bone was recovered from the upper fill.

{3} Late Iron Age settlement was situated in the southern part of Area B and comprised a ring ditch set within a rectangular enclosure. The enclosure, defined by a ditch, encompassed at least 2500 sq. metres, and aligned north-west to south-east, roughly perpendicular to PA1 to the east. The south-western corner had been disturbed by the construction of the M1 motorway. The eastern side of the enclosure had been truncated by later ditches. To the north and east of the enclosure were other ditches which may be related to Iron Age settlement activity.
The ring ditch comprised a ditch with an internal diameter of 8.8m, an east facing entrance and was also open on its western side. There were three postholes which were internal to the ring ditch. From the ring ditch itself, a thick-walled storage jar of the early 1st century AD was recovered.

The late Iron Age settlement was directly replaced from the 1st century AD by a set of enclosures and fields defined by ditches on a different alignment (east to west) which extended the settlement area to the north. Only the western side of the enclosures survived, the northern side had been truncated by the post-medieval quarrying and the eastern side by modern development. Within one of the enclosures were two large wells or watering holes. A significant proportion of the Roman pottery found on site came from the fill of one of the wells. Evidence of pottery production comprising two fragmentary vessels was recovered from the well. Both were of sandy grey ware- one vessel had a large crack and the other a large air bubble. This material suggests there may have been a sandy grey ware pottery kiln in the vicinity of the site in the 3rd century AD.

The fragmentary remains of a child burial in the corner of an enclosure were assumed to be Roman.

Subsequent activity in Saxon period included a ring ditch which occupied the south-east facing slope overlooking the Nene Valley and situated at c73.00m aOD. It had an external diameter of c15.20m and an internal diameter of c13.10m. It was defined by a continuous ditch measuring between 0.40m and 1.1m wide and 0.15m to 0.63m deep. There were no surviving internal features or burials within the ring ditch and any mound had been ploughed out. On its northern side the ring ditch clearly cuts a pit forming part of Pit Alignment PA1, demonstrating that the pit alignment had by this time ceased to function as a relevant landscape element.

Respecting the position of the ring ditch and situated adjacent to it were seven inhumations. Only one burial had been deep enough to remain unaffected by later ploughing. This burial was an adult male in a supine position with legs flexed. The burial was also notable for its grave goods, a knife blade was positioned across the pelvic area and a spear head was to the south, near the head.

<1> Meadows, A, Walford, J, and Simmonds, C., 2014, Archaeological geophysical survey at Pineham Expansion Zone H, Northampton, p. 5 (Report). SNN110116.

<2> Simmonds, C., 2015, Archaeological trial trenching on land at Pineham, Zone H Northamptonshire Interim Statement May 2015, p. 8 (Interim Report). SNN110361.

<3> Simmonds C., 2017, Archaeological excavation on land at Pineham Zone H, Northamptonshire September 2015 to May 2016: Assessment report and updated project design (Report). SNN110986.

<3> Simmonds, C, 2019, Archaeological Excavations on land at Pineham Zone H, Northamptonshire September 2015 to May 2016 (Report). SNN112261.

<4> Horne, B (editor), 2016, South Midlands Archaeology (46), p. 43 (Journal). SNN111326.

Record last edited

Jan 24 2019 12:02PM