Monument record 5305/0/1 - Probable Roman malting and brewing site, south of Higham Road

Archaeological evaluation identified a circular building constructed from limestone with limestone floor foundations. The building appears to have burnt down. Subsequent excavation of a sewerage pipeline undertaken immediately to the west of this building identified a square stone-lined tank or cistern and stone-lined drain. Environmental sampling suggests that these features may have been associated with spelt malting processes.

{1} Geophysical survey was undertaken in 2014. Towards the western boundary of the survey area, a small group of cut features were identified.Roughly circular but the clarity of these anomalies is somewhat diminished due to the overlying ridge-and-furrow.

{2} Archaeological trial trench evaluation undertaken in 2014 identified a wall constructed of limestone fragments and light grey yellow mortar. It appeared to be abutted by a limestone floor overlaid by a floor surface comprising a light grey yellow sandy mortar. The location of the structure might indicate it was a Romano-British temple or shrine. The structure is located on a level area of ground on the western slope of a hill near two springs, overlooking a small brook and situated roughly 200m east of the predicted route of the Roman road between Irchester and Kettering. Similarly, it is located c 400m to the south-west of a Roman settlement.
The demolition or abandonment layer contained a large amount of charcoal and fragments of burnt limestone. Likewise some of the limestone within the structural remains was also burnt. This would indicate that the building burnt down; whether deliberately or accidentally is not possible to say. Finds from the demolition layer would indicate the feature had fallen out of use by the late 3rd century.

{3} Resisitivity survey did not succeed in mapping the Roman building on which it was targeted, but it identified a possible continuation of a ditch previously observed in a trial trench.

{5} Archaeological excavation was undertaken during the construction of a sewer pipeline. The pipeline trench lay immediately to the west of the trench in which the circular building was identified. Roman features dating between the 2nd and 4th centuries were found. A sub-square cistern or tank which was 3.7m long, 3.4m wide and 0.5m deep, with a clay-lined base over which limestone slabs had been laid. West of the cistern was a roughly square area of cobbles, possibly a working surface. Running out of the cistern was a stone-lined drain. Later features included a number of ditches, a trackway and two heavily truncated burials, both aligned east to west. Environmental sampling found evidence of the processing of spelt wheat, the subsequent use of chaff for fuel and evidence of germination suggestive of the malting process in which grain is steeped in water and deliberately germinated for use in brewing.
The proximity of the cistern and related features to the features previously identified during the trial trenching makes it likely that the circular building was associated with brewing/malting than for religious purposes.

<1> Prestidge, O.J., 2014, Higham Road, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire: Geophysical survey report, March 2014 (Report). SNN111695.

<2> Moan, P., 2014, Land south of Higham Road, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire: Archaeological evaluation report, 2014, checked (Report). SNN110433.

<3> Walford, J. and Meadows, A., 2014, Archaeological geophysical survey on land south of Higham Road, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN110126.

<4> Horne, B (editor), 2015, South Midlands Archaeology (45), p. 39 (Journal). SNN111358.

<5> Cox, N, 2018, Roman water management, spelt malting and other remains along the Kettering Sewerage Pipeline (Areas 2 and 4), Northamptonshire: Excavation Report (Report). SNN112566.

<6> Oxford Archaeology (Cambridge), 2024, Site Data from an Archaeological Evaluation at the South of Higham Road, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, September 2014, https://doi.org/10.5284/1120007 (Digital archive). SNN116591.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 4:15PM