Monument record 2460/1 - Site of late Iron Age/Roman activity

Trial trench excavation and subsequent excavation found ditches and gullies from which late Iron Age and Roman pottery was recovered. The form of any wider settlement is unknown

{1} A few indistinct anomalies which may be ditches and an area of ferrous noise were detected during the gradiometer survey. Two trenches were subsequently excavated, in one was a curvilinear gully dated to the Iron Age, possibly a roundhouse ring gully, along with three linear ditches, also dated to the Iron Age. A little distance to the east was a Roman ditch, possibly defining the same boundary as the earlier ditches, though shifted somewhat to the east.

In the second trench, Victorian rubbish pits had removed any earlier evidence in the northern part of the site.

{2} Three ditches, north-west to south-east aligned, were recorded during archaeological investigation in advance of development, broadly corresponding with the results of the earlier trial trench excavation. A copper alloy spoon was recovered from a secure context within one of the ditches, although stylistically this spoon more closely resembles a type from around the 14th century- further research required on the dating of this artefact.

<1> Morris, S., Walford, J., 2008, Geophysical survey and archaeological excavation on land off the Beford Road, Little Houghton, Northamptonshire, May 2008 (Report). SNN106651.

<2> Leigh, D., 2016, A strip, map and sample investigation at 23 Bedford Road, Little Houghton Northamptonshire October 2012 (Report). SNN110865.

<3> Crank, N. (Editor), 2017, South Midlands Archaeology (47), p. 42 (Journal). SNN111362.

Record last edited

Feb 6 2019 2:00PM