Monument record 459/2/4 - Post Medieval Bakehouse

Part of the service range at Fawsley Hall, identified on a 17th-century map. Archaeological evaluation in 1989 identified walls relating to the former service range, but no floors remained

{1} Walls, part of a bakehouse identified on a plan of 1678.

{2} Trench B was located across the main axis of the service-range and revealed part of the walls of such, though no floor levels had survived.

{3} Post Medieval structural remains and landscaping, evaluation by B Dix and P O'Hara, residual Medieval and Roman pottery.

{4} Two parallel walls c.5m apart and running east-west, presumably had formed part of the service-range. Both walls shared a similar construction, 90cm wide and faced in a random mixture of large pieces of ironstone and limestone around a rubble core. Two courses survived to a height of 28cm in the north wall but the other wall was represented only by its lowest foundation. No related floor levels were present. The positions of each wall coincide with those of an apparent extension ascribed to 1678 in a plan drawn by Sir Henry Dryden in 1857. A similar building technique was used in a separate wall located within the room bounded by the other walls.
The walls sealed a series of earth-cut features which could relate to previous structural phases. Stratigraphically, the earliest feature was a shallow linear disturbance which might represent the robbed line of a north- south wall that possibly formed a right-angled corner with a similar disturbance to the north: the coincidence of later walls in these positions may be significant. The possible robber-trench was cut by two separate features on east-west alignments. One was c.1.25m wide and 30cm deep with a flat base; the other was 1.65m wide and had been dug with vertical sides to a depth of 60cm above a flat bottom. Its fill contained animal bones and 6 sherds of medieval pottery of the late 14th to 15th centuries, as well as 6 fragments of late medieval and post-medieval roof tiles. While the function of these features remains indeterminate it is possible that they were formed during previous construction and alterations of the service-range.

<1> 1992, SMR Report Form, (checked) (SMR Report Form). SNN48845.

<2> Pike A. (Editor), 1990, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (20), 20/35 (checked) (Journal). SNN39962.

<3> Dix B., 1992, Recent Work in Northamptonshire Archaeology, 24/119 (checked) (Article). SNN104441.

<4> O'Hara, P. & Dix, B., 1990, Archaeological Evaluation at Fawsley Hall, Northants 1989, (checked) (Report). SNN48844.

Record last edited

Sep 20 2019 11:42AM