Monument record 2345/0/1 - Early Roman farmed landscape

A series of boundaries and enclosures with evidence of transient, possibly seasonal, habitation

{1} Geophysical survey undertaken in 2011 identified a sinuous anomaly aligned approximately north-east to south-west and extending south to Station Road.

{2} Trial trench excavation was undertaken in 2012. In one of trenches there was a small ditch, aligned roughly east to west, from which was recovered two sherds of pottery that broadly date to the Roman period. On the same alignment and 4.3m to the north was a small gully which terminated at its western end. Although it was the smaller of the two features, from its fill was recovered thirty-three Roman pottery sherds, which derive from two 2nd-century vessels.

{3} An excavation on land west of Long Buckby in 2013 found evidence of an early Roman farmed landscape with evidence for the presence of settlement nearby (possibly to the west of the site). At least two phases of activity were identified with the majority of features dated to the mid/late 1st century to early 2nd century AD and a single ditch possibly continuing into the second half of the 2nd century AD.

The earliest phase was represented by three evenly spaced parallel ditches aligned north-west to south-east. Subsequently there were several pits and a gully. The gully, which was L-shape in plan and had vertical sides with a flat base, may have been a beam slot and may have held a temporary windbreak or shelter. An elongated keyhole-shaped pit may have been a small bread oven, although there were no charred cereals in its fill. There was, however, a large fragment of burnt lower quern stone and charcoal in its lower fill. It may just have been a general purpose cooking pit.

The second phase also comprised three ditches, one forming the northern boundary of a southern enclosure with an entrance formed by a short lozenge shaped ditch.

<1> STRATASCAN, 2011, Station Road, Long Buckby, Northamptonshire: Geophysical Survey (Report). SNN110442.

<2> Carlyle S., 2012, Land at Station Road, Long Buckby, Northamptonshire: Archaeological evaluation, October 2012 (Report). SNN110441.

<3> Fairbairn, J., 2014, Archaeological excavation on land west of Long Buckby (Report). SNN110371.

<4> Horne B. (Editor), 2014, South Midlands Archaeology (44), p. 34 (Journal). SNN109842.

Record last edited

Apr 26 2019 1:51PM