Monument record MNN173705 - Bronze Age round barrow and ditch, Overstone Park

Archaeological excavation identified the ring ditch of a Bronze Age round barrow. Inside it were three pits which contained either cremated human bone or pottery. A further cremation urn was found 50m to the south-east of the ring ditch. To the south was an undated L-shaped length of ditch that was truncated by later Roman features. A similar feature found to the north was radiocarbon dated to the Bronze Age.

{3} Archaeological excavation undertaken between 2021 and 2022 identified a ring ditch of a ploughed out Bronze Age round barrow. The ring ditch had initially been identified during geophysical survey {1} in 2009 and had tentatively been categorised as an Iron Age/Roman roundhouse ring gully. During the subsequent trial trench excavation {2}, one trench, 184, was placed directly over the geophysical survey anomaly but no sub surface features appear to have been recognised during this phase. The excavation identified a continuous ring ditch 12.5m in diameter. Inside were three pits. In the fill of one was part of a Bronze Age collared urn, in the fill of another was a small amount of cremated bone and in the third was charcoal. A small pit that possibly cut the ring ditch contained a small collared urn and charcoal, but no cremated bone, and two further vessels were found in the fill of the ring ditch. One contained charcoal and a very small amount of cremated bone. A satellite cremation was found some 50m to the south-east of the barrow comprising an inverted collared urn containing a small amount of cremated bone.
An L-shaped length of ditch directly to the south-west of the barrow was undated but earlier than the Roman settlement. A similar ditch found to the north-east, also in association with Bronze Age monuments, was radiocarbon dated to the Bronze Age.

<1> Butler A., 2009, Archaeological Geophysical Survey at Overstone Leys, Northamptonshire April 2009, p. 8 (Report). SNN107975.

<2> Walker, C. & Jones, C., 2011, Archaeological evaluation on land at Overstone Leys, Overstone, Northamptonshire Phase 3 (Report). SNN107903.

<3> Preece, T, 2024, Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design for Overstone Park, Northamptonshire, May 2021 to January 2022, p. 13-15 (Report). SNN117036.

Record last edited

Apr 1 2026 11:54AM