Monument record 4974 - Probable Iron Age/Romano-British Settlement, Hardingstone

A large quantity of material has been recorded from the area of the village and may possibly represent a single large settlement and industrial complex although, alternatively, the remains may only witness more ephemeral and dispersed activity.

[see individual records for more detail]

{1} In 1967 a new Junior School was being built at Hardingstone, SP 764574. Rescue excavation produced evidence of Belgic and Roman occupation of the site. A ditch system was traced, and found to contain much pottery, Belgic and Native. The former consisted mainly of cordoned bowls, the latter calcite-gritted channel - and slashed-rim cooking pots and larger storage vessels. A bronze brooch and an iron brooch, pre-Flavian and possibly pre-conquest, were found.
Three pottery kilns were found, all damaged by later disturbance. They appeared to have been the usual domed structures of turves, straw and clay on a wattle framework. The combustion chambers and stokehole pits adjoined in a figure-of-eight arrangement. The kilns were dated to the mid 1st c. AD.

{2} The site was indicated on the ground by the school headmaster who was present at the excavation. It covers a large area centralised to SP 7644 5747, some under housing development and some in the school-field.

{3} On the S. side of the village (c. Sp 764 574), four pottery kilns and a network of ditches and gullies containing pottery dating from the pre-Belgic Iron Age to the mid to late 1st century AD were excavated in 1967-8. The ditches of two sides of a rectangular enclosure, visible on air photographs (in NMR), were also sectioned. These revealed three phases of construction, the latest being dated to the first half of the 1st century AD. An Iron Age coin (Potin Class II) was also discovered. Roman pottery was found W. in 1973 (SP 761 575). More pottery is recorded as having been found in 1957 (SP 7628 5746).

{6} Roman settlement(s), Iron Age Enclosure lie under and around Hardingstone village [SP 765575] on Northampton Sands, Estuarine Series deposits and Great Oolite Limestone, between 100 m. and 110 m. above OD. A large quantity of material has been recorded from the area of the village and may possibly represent a single large settlement and industrial complex although, alternatively, the remains may only witness more ephemeral and disperse activity.

{7} The complex at present consists of SP 75 NE 7, 9, 10, 16, 18, 29 and 69.

<1> Brown, A.E. (Ed.), 1967, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1966/67 (Roman), p. 10 (Article). SNN58197.

<2> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, F1 FDC 29-APR-69 (Note). SNN111452.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 270/ Site 4 (Series). SNN77379.

<4> WOODS P.J., 1969, Excavations at Hardingstone in Northamptonshire 1967-8 (Report). SNN46636.

<5> Haselgrove, C, 1978, Supplementary gazetteer of findspots of Celtic coins in Britain, 1977 (Monograph). SNN115048.

<6> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, P. 270-1/Site 4 (Series). SNN77380.

<7> LEE, E S., 1991, RCHME Recorder, 10-APR-1992 (Note). SNN114837.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:04PM