Monument record 5592/0/11 - Probable late Iron Age and Roman farmstead, Saxon Rise

Iron Age and Roman features recorded during geophysical survey and subsequent trial trench evaluation included enclosure and boundary ditches as well as the remnants of a stone wall. Subsequent excavation identified sparse activity dating from the Neolithic to early Iron Age as well as defining the Iron Age and Roman settlements. Probably associated with the settlement to the east of the A508. The site can probably be classified as a complex farmstead. The excavated areas may have had a crop processing function, as suggested by the presence of crop drying ovens. The construction of a large drying in the later Roman period perhaps indicates an expansion in this type of activity. Brewing may have also taken place.

{2} Detailed gradiometry survey was conducted over approximately 1.8 hectares of agricultural land. Within the survey data, a large number of clear, positive anomalies have been identified as being of archaeological origin. These include linear and curvi-linear features. These are likely to be linked to Iron Age and Roman enclosures, pits and settlement evidence that are present on the area surrounding the site.

{3} The evaluation recorded a series of ditches and a small number of pits, as well as the remnants of a stone wall. These features displayed a broad correspondence with the results of the geophysical surveys. Artefactual material indicated that the features were mainly Iron Age and Roman in date, although there was also limited evidence for Mesolithic and Bronze Age activity at the site.
Some of the Iron Age features showed evidence of being recut in the Roman period indicating that the site was in continuous use throughout this period. Limited evidence of activity after the 3rd century AD suggested the site was abandoned in the later Roman period.

{4, 5} Archaeological excavation identified two early Neolithic pits and an early Bronze Age pit as well as several pits and ditches broadly dating from the Bronze Age to early Iron Age. Middle to late Iron Age enclosures, two possible ring ditches and numerous pits were also present. The form of the settlement is hard to classify, with enclosed and 'open' elements of settlement, but are likely to be associated with part of a far more extensive settlement pattern. A large group of ironwork has been recovered from the site, perhaps most notably from a possible storage pit, from which a collection of weapon fragments, metalworking tools and other objects, including a whetstone, had been deliberately placed in the base of the pit. Another of the storage pits was used for the crouched burial of an adult male of c45 years. No accompanying grave goods were found. This activity was replaced by, but located slightly further to the south, a Roman 'linear' complex farmstead comprising at least three conjoined sub-rectangular stock enclosures, drying ovens and ditches. The enclosure ditches were maintained throughout the 2nd and into the 3rd centuries, when at least part of the westernmost ditch system was backfilled and replaced with a wall which was maintained into the mid 4th century AD. No evidence of domestic structures was found within the excavated area.
The excavated areas may have had a crop processing function, as suggested by the drying ovens. The construction of a large drying oven in the later Roman period indicates an expansion in these activities and brewing possibly took place on site.

<1> STRATASCAN, 2012, Geophysical Survey Report: Northampton Road, Brixworth, 2012 (Report). SNN111365.

<2> Prestidge, O.J., 2014, Geophysical Survey Report: Northampton Road, Brixworth, February 2014 (Report). SNN110854.

<3> James, P., 2014, Saxon Rise 2, Northampton Road, Brixworth, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation, 2014 (Report). SNN110853.

<3> Cotswold Archaeology, 2022, Images and CAD Data from an Archaeological Evaluation at Saxon Rise 2, Northampton Road, Brixworth, Northamptonshire June 2014, https://doi.org/10.5284/1100549 (Digital archive). SNN114232.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2018, South Midlands Archaeology (48), p. 57 (Journal). SNN111393.

<5> Brindle, T and Boyer, P, 2020, Saxon Rise 2, Northampton Road, Brixworth, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Excavation (Report). SNN115063.

<6> Cotswold Archaeology, 2023, Digital Archive from an Archaeological Excavation at Saxon Rise 2, Northampton Road, Brixworth, Northamptonshire, June to October 2016, https://doi.org/10.5284/1105905 (Digital archive). SNN115354.

<7> Jo Barker, Peter Boyer and Tom Brindle, 2023, Neolithic and Bronze Age pits, and Middle-Late Iron Age and Roman settlement at Brixworth, Saxon Rise (Article). SNN116519.

Record last edited

Oct 22 2024 12:45PM