Monument record 1354/1 - Middle Iron Age to Roman Settlement, east of Roman road

The eastern part of an extensive area of Iron Age and Roman occupation located either side of a Roman road [HER No 3141/1]. Some features visible as cropmarks, many more identified during geophysical survey in 2016. Further geophysical survey in 2018 of land immediately south of Irthlingborough Grange extended the known area of settlement northwards. Excavation in 2017 found evidence of continuous settlement from the middle Iron Age to the late Roman period. Iron Age settlement comprised several unenclosed ring ditches and a complex of sub-circular enclosures located within the interior of an earlier Neolithic causewayed enclosure [HER no 8959/1]. The settlement was reorganised in the early Roman period with the replacement of some sub-circular enclosures with rectilinear enclosure systems and remodelling of others. The remnants of two stone-founded structures dated to this phase. During the middle Roman period a new rectilinear enclosure system was established. The settlement appeared to continue into the 3rd century.

{2} Geophysical survey of a large area to the south of Irthlingborough Grange identified a complex landscape of Iron Age and Roman occupation. There were several discrete areas of more dense activity, but across the remainder of the area there was evidence of field boundaries that probably dated to the same period. The detected remains appear to comprise a mixture of settlement enclosures and small fields and include at least one roundhouse and one rectangular stone building.

{3} A small number of trial trenches were targeted on geophysical anomalies. Archaeological features comprising predominantly ditches and pits were encountered in every trench.

{5} Geophysical survey in 2018 to the south of Irthlingborough Grange identified a complex of archaeological features representing a continuation of the settlement investigated to the south. The densest area of archaeology comprises three groups of rectilinear enclosures, all similarly aligned. The enclosures in the southernmost group all have densely utilised interiors, while the central group, which has strikingly regular, straight-edged ditches is apparently much emptier. The northern group lay immediately south of Irthlingborough Grange.

{6} Archaeological excavation of Flood Relief Area 3 prior to development. In the eastern excavation area in the later middle Iron Age to late Iron Age period there were at least five unenclosed ring ditches and a concentration of twelve irregular sub-circular ditched enclosures and three further ring ditches. The enclosures were located within the circuit of the earlier Neolithic causewayed enclosure suggesting that at least part of the monument was still visible in the landscape. There was evidence for several of the enclosures being maintained over extended periods of time, with some having up to three or four phases of modification. Pit groups and internal divisions were present in some of the enclosures indicating that they had differing functions. In the south-eastern part of the area was a probable contemporary field system.

Pottery recovered from the features suggests a date range beginning about 250/200BC and continuing into the later Iron Age between 50BC to 50AD. A radiocarbon date from one of the unenclosed ring ditches suggested it may have continued in use through the late Iron Age/early Roman transition.

During the early Roman period, a reorganisation of the settlement took place which saw the establishment of conjoined rectilinear enclosure systems which predominantly replaced the earlier Iron Age enclosures, although in the central part of the settlement some of the earlier enclosures were remodelled rather than replaced. As with the earlier enclosures there was a mix of domestic and non-domestic functions. This main area was linked by a north to south aligned boundary ditch to a new system of conjoined smaller paddock enclosures to the north-east which continued to the north and east beyond the excavation area. This was replaced by a more extensive 'ladder' system during the middle Roman and was located over an area more 120m long and 75m wide extending beyond the excavation area to the north, east and south.

Further enclosures to the north-west, adjacent to the road, defined a domestic focus that included stone footings to two structures. Two inhumation burials and an unurned cremation burial were also identified.

In the middle to late Roman period a rectilinear enclosure system was established covering an area of more than 100m by 70m and continuing west and possibly north of the excavation area.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, SP 9167 & 9168 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Walford, J, 2016, Archaeological geophysical survey of Area 3 of the Wellingborough East flood relief works Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire September 2016 (Report). SNN110834.

<3> Muldowney, L., 2017, Trial trench evaluation at Wellingborough East Area 3, Northamptonshire: Interim Report (Report). SNN111179.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2018, South Midlands Archaeology (48), p. 69 (Journal). SNN111393.

<5> Arkley, G. and Walford, J., 2018, Archaeological geophysical survey at Stanton Cross, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, October to November 2018 (Report). SNN111534.

<6> Preece, T, 2020, Archaeological excavation and analysis on land at Wellingborough East, Area 3, Northamptonshire, April to December 2017 (Report). SNN112349.

<7> Crank, N. (Editor), 2020, South Midlands Archaeology (50), p. 89 (Journal). SNN112426.

<8> Wolframm-Murray, Y, 2021, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 2019, p. 467-8 (Note). SNN113025.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 7:41PM