Monument record 4008/1 - Prehistoric ring ditch, Dodford Wharf Farm

Geophysical survey identified part of a circular ditched enclosure. It was subsequently confirmed by trial trench excavation and later excavation, but no finds were recovered from the ditch fills. It is considered more likely to be the plough-damaged remains of a Bronze Age barrow than an Iron Age roundhouse.

{1} The geophysical survey detected a large circular ditch-like anomaly along the site’s northern boundary that indicated the potential for possible prehistoric or Roman activity within the site. However, the full extent of this feature was partially obscured by the responses of ferrous material and a modern trackway.

{2} The evaluation identified five ditches, two pits and a posthole. These features were concentrated in the northern part of the site. With the exception of two undiagnostic pieces of flint debitage from ditch 103 in trench 1, no artefactual material was recovered from any of these features. Ditches
103 and 203 revealed in T1 and T2 in the north-western part of the site form part of a sub-circular ditched enclosure. No archaeological features were identified within the interior of the enclosure ditch, although evaluation of the interior space was constrained by the presence of an existing footpath/ track.

{3} Archaeological excavation exposed the ring ditch, but no artefactual material was retrieved from the ditch. No entrances were found, although the northern part of the ring ditch lay beneath the field boundary. A short section of ditch and three pits were revealed from the near the centre of the ring ditch. A single sherd of possible early Iron Age pottery was recovered from the fill of one of the pits and undiagnostic flint flakes were found in another. Plant macrofossils indicative of dumped domestic hearth waste and quantities of hazelnut shell were also recovered.

<1> Magnitude Surveys, 2019, Geophysical Report of Dodford Wharf Farm, High Street, Weedon, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN112452.

<2> Orellana, J, 2020, Dodford Wharf Farm, High Street, Weedon, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation (Report). SNN112451.

<3> Orellana, J, 2021, Land at Dodford Wharf Farm, Weedon, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Strip, Map and Sample Excavation (Report). SNN112969.

<4> Cotswold Archaeology, 2021, Images from an Archaeological Evaluation at Dodford Wharf Farm, High Street, Weedon, Northamptonshire 2020, https://doi.org/10.5284/1085007 (Digital archive). SNN112482.

<5> Cotswold Archaeology, 2021, Site Data from an Archaeological Excavation at Dodford Wharf Farm, Weedon, Northamptonshire 2021, https://doi.org/10.5284/1092300 (Digital archive). SNN114248.

Record last edited

Oct 20 2022 10:13AM