Monument record 6676 - Iron Age/early Roman settlement, west of Buckingham Road

Geophysical survey and trial trench excavation identified a trapezoidal enclosure containing a probable round house ring ditch and an adjoining sub-circular enclosure and other linear ditches. Pottery evidence suggests that the settlement originated in the middle-late Iron Age with some activity continuing into the Roman period.

{1} The geophysical survey, using detailed magnetometry over a 9-hectare field, located previously unidentified archaeological features including enclosures and a ring ditch and associated pits and linear ditches.

{3} Trial trench excavation undertaken in 2022 broadly confirmed the results of the geophysical survey. Pottery evidence suggests that occupation began in the middle-late Iron Age focused around the trapezoidal enclosure which contained a roundhouse. There was a circular enclosure immediately to the south-west. No internal features were identified during either the geophysical survey or the trial trenching and it was probably used as a stock enclosure. Ditches extending out to the north-east and south-east from the trapezoidal enclosure are likely to have been boundary ditches. A small quantity of Roman pottery was recovered from one ditch which is likely to have been part of a wider rectilinear field system indicated by the geophysical survey.

<1> Donaldson, K, 2022, Land west of Buckingham Road, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire: Magnetometer Survey Report, https://doi.org/10.5284/1103899 (Report). SNN113553.

<2> Archaeological Surveys, 2022, Survey Data and Interpretation from a Magnetometer Survey near Buckingham Road, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire, 2022, https://doi.org/10.5284/1097414 (Digital archive). SNN114242.

<3> Brown, R, 2022, Land west of Buckingham Road, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation, https://doi.org/10.5284/1115952 (Report). SNN114265.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2023, South Midlands Archaeology (53), P. 56 (Journal). SNN116414.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 7:15PM