Monument record 2510/0/1 - Iron Age ring gully, pre-medieval inhumation burials and post-medieval ditches, Rushden Hospital site

A probable mid-late Iron Age roundhouse gully and associated postholes and two undated, but probably pre-medieval, inhumations were recorded during archaeological excavation at Rushden Hospital

{1} Trial trench excavation identified a curvilinear gully, probably the remains of a ring ditch. A series of ditches were interpreted as probable Iron Age/Roman enclosure ditches with a further ditch aligned north-east to south-west across the site probably dating to the medieval period.

{2} Excavation was undertaken in 2014. The semicircular gully identified during the trial trenching was 10m in diameter and open to the south-east. Two pairs of postholes lay within it. The feature was tentatively dated to the Iron Age on the basis of its form, although no pottery was recovered to confirm this attribution. The paucity of artefactual and environmental evidence suggests that the
structure was sited away from the main settlement foci of the period. To the north was a posthole group. The fill of one posthole contained four small sherds from a single vessel. The rim form suggested a mid-late Iron Age date.
Two inhumation burials were both aligned north-west to south-east. Both were heavily truncated and in poor condition. One of the burials had been disturbed by a medieval furrow. No dating evidence was recovered from either grave fill, but their burial alignment may suggest they were buried with regard to Christian tradition, suggesting a possible Roman to early medieval date.
There were six ditches aligned north-west to south-east. Although interpreted as Iron Age/Roman enclosure ditches during the trial trench excavation, tThey cut the subsoil and the medieval furrows and are threfore likely to be post-medieval.
Truncating the post-medieval ditches was a linear ditch at least 185m long and aligned north-east to south west. It was present in Areas 1 and 2 and was visible as a slight earthwork. It appears on historic maps from 1635 up to 1938 and was likely to have been a long-lived boundary feature which is likely to have been a remnant of the field system which developed along the southern and northern sides of High Street during the medieval period. Its later recutting may have been closely contemporary with the system of ditches set at right angles to it.

<1> Foard-Colby A., 2009, Archaeological trial trench evaluation at Rushden Hospital, Northamptonshire October 2009 (Report). SNN107988.

<2> Taylor, E., 2014, Archaeological excavations on land at Rushden Hospital, Rushden, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN110104.

Record last edited

Apr 23 2025 6:42PM