Monument record 5975/0/20 - Probable medieval/post-medieval quarrying and ditch

Series of quarry pits, some of which may have been medieval. A large ditch may have formed the northern boundary to the quarrying

{1} Two large pits were identified in Trenches 2 and 3 as thick made-ground deposits. Material recovered from the deposits indicates that they were post-medieval, or were backfilled during the post-medieval period. The size of the possible pits and type of natural suggests that the pits were dug to extract sand, for use in construction materials like mortar or plaster. These large and deep pits might have truncated any further pre post-medieval remains in this part of the development area and may also account for the movement of pottery around the site.

{2} The quarry pits located within Plot 4, together with evidence from previous trial trenching on the site, of an even larger area of quarrying further to the south, suggest that much of the western part of the site had been subjected to quarrying activity. Sherds of post-medieval pottery and clay tobacco-pipe fragments found within Trench 2 of the previous evaluation provide evidence of post–medieval quarrying activity. However, the two smaller quarry pits within Plot 4, may represent an earlier, possibly medieval, phase of quarrying. It is likely that the quarries were used for the extraction of sand, though the existence of an ironstone natural substrate c 2m lower in the eastern part of the site, may also be indicative of possible ironstone extraction on the site. The large post-medieval ditch in Plot 4 may be indicative of a northern boundary to quarrying activity within the site. The alignment of the ditch is broadly east to west and may associated with the boundary of a plot of land extending back from the Guilsborough Road street frontage much of which consists of post-medieval stone
buildings.

<1> Muldowney, M., 2014, Archaeological trial trench evaluation on land at 15 Guilsborough Road, West Haddon, checked (Report). SNN110148.

<2> Sharman T., 2015, Archaeological observation, investigation, recording and analysis of land at 15 Guilsborough Road, West Haddon, Northamptonshire May, June and November 2015, checked (Report). SNN110398.

<3> Horne, B (editor), 2016, South Midlands Archaeology (46), p. 45 (Journal). SNN111326.

Record last edited

Jan 24 2019 12:37PM