Monument record 9881/3 - Possible Iron Age/Roman settlement

Possible Iron Age and/or Roman enclosures, probably indicating a settlement site and associated land division, are recorded as cropmarks on EH Reconnaissance aerial photographs taken in July 2011. A rectilinear ditched enclosure, with internal subdivisions and another smaller rectangular enclosure within, extends over an area measuring about 110 metres by 100 metres. A ring ditch, defined by broad ditches about 2 metres wide, partially encloses an area about 30 metres in diameter. The ring ditch could indicate the remains of a Neolithic or Bronze Age barrow or ceremonial monument. However it may have formed part of the adjacent settlement. Roman pottery and a quern found nearby [HER 3493/0/2] could relate to the enclosures. Other enclosures to the east [HER 9881/1] and south-east [HER 9881/2] may also be related to the settlement.

{1-2} Possible Iron Age and/or Roman enclosures, probably indicating a settlement site and associated land division, are recorded as cropmarks on EH Reconnaissance aerial photographs taken in July 2011. It is centred at SP 9952 6441.

A rectilinear ditched enclosure, with internal subdivisions and another smaller rectangular enclosure within, extends over an area measuring about 110 metres by 100 metres. A ring ditch, defined by broad ditches about 2 metres wide, partially encloses an area about 30 metres in diameter. The ring ditch could indicate the remains of a Neolithic or Bronze Age barrow or ceremonial monument. However it may have formed part of the adjacent settlement.

The site was plotted during the Northamptonshire NMP project but the 2011 aerial photographs add significant new detail

Roman pottery and a quern found nearby [HER 3493/0/2] could relate to the enclosures. Other enclosures to the east [HER 9981/1] and south-east [HER 9881/2] may also be related to the settlement.

{1a} As described above {1-2}, a rectilinear ditched enclosure is bisected by a medieval park pale boundary and post medieval field boundary and is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. Located in a field about 1000 metres SE of the sewage pumping station off Avenue Road and centred at SP 99516 64410, the enclosure ditch is up to 3.1 metres wide and comprises a three-sided linear enclosure about 95.5 metres SW-NE and 86 metres NW-SE, though any SE facing side is not visible; so the full extent is unclear. Facing into the outer enclosure ditch further subdivisions, the largest being a rectilinear internal ditched enclosure in the N facing corner that encloses an area about 32 x 43 metres. Other internal subdivisions are suggested by short sections of inward facing perpendicular ditch. Adjacent to the east facing corner is an arc of curvilinear ditch that suggests a possible ring ditch, though it is incomplete and is bisected by a former field boundary.

<1a> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 27155/024 11-JUL-2011 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<1> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 27155_023-024 11-JULY-2011 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<2> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 27155_030-033 11-JULY-2011 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<3> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 6:43PM