Monument record 104 - Probable Iron Age farmstead

A complex of intercutting features initially identified via aerial photography and geophysical survey. Trial trench evaluation indicated an Iron Age date for the site.

{1} The cropmark of a possible Late Prehistoric or Roman enclosure is visible on aerial photographs taken in 2004. This rectilinear enclosure is situated to the south west of Dagnall Farm at SP 7581 3880 and measures approximately 55m across. Within the western corner is a second irregular-shaped enclosure which measures up to 17m across. Neither of the circuits of these two cropmarks is complete. The field also contains cropmarks of Medieval or Post Medieval ridge and furrow.

{2} Geophysical survey undertaken in 2013 identified adjoining rectilinear enclosures with internal features, possibly including round house ring ditches.

{3} Trial trench evaluation confirmed the results of the geophysical survey and found evidence of further ditches not previously identified. Several phases were evident within the enclosure ditches, as indicated by the presence of numerous re-cuts, although all of these phases were Iron Age in date. Few features internal to the enclosures were recorded, although there were internal postholes in T35 and T36, and T36 also contained several further features which would have been internal to a large square enclosure present in this area of the site.

{6, 7} A farmstead of Iron Age date is visible on historic aerial photographs as cropmarks and were mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project. Located approximately 270m south of Dagnall Farm, Wicken, Northamptonshire, and centred at SP 75844 38820. The cropmarks show two subrectangular enclosures as cropmarks, the one to the east is visible on all four sides and measures 53x51m and has a ring ditch in the south eastern corner, the western side is only visible up to the field boundary and is 53m wide; further linear features continue beyond the enclosures.

<1> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR SP 7538/5 (23608/14) 29-JUL-2004 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<2> GSB Prospection, 2013, Mount Mill Farm, Deanshanger: Geophysical Survey Report (Report). SNN112243.

<3> Evans, D., 2014, Mount Mill Farm, Wicken, Northamptonshire: Archaeological evaluation, 2014, p. 7-10 (Report). SNN110535.

<4> Horne, B (editor), 2016, South Midlands Archaeology (46), p. 32 (Journal). SNN111326.

<5> Cotswold Archaeology, 2022, Site Data from Multiple Archaeological Investigations at Mount Mill Farm, Wicken, Northamptonshire 2014 and 2015, https://doi.org/10.5284/1100091 (Digital archive). SNN114235.

<6> Vertical Aerial Photograph, NMR 23608_014 29-Jul-2004 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<7> Vertical Aerial Photograph, NMR 23673_010 29-Jul-2004 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2025 7:35PM