Monument record 726/0/42 - Possible Romano-British Ditch

A broad ditch, likely to be of Roman date

{1} A trial excavation undertaken by D. Jackson at the cinema site, which overlays part of the Roman and Saxon defences; no certain defensive alignment was found. A broad ditch aligned east to west, up to 6m wide and dug to a depth of 1m into the natural gravel, was found at the western end of the cinema site. This ditch was thought likely, at the time, to be part of the Roman defensive circuit. However, further trenches that were later excavated on this presumed alignment did not identify certain continuations and this theory was subsequently abandoned.

{2} Details and discussion of the trenches and definite ditch alignment.

{6} During excavation at the Waitrose site in 1998 at c SP 6931 4847, a substantial ditch aligned south-west by north-east was at least 3.20m wide but the base was not reached due to the high watertable. The upper fill was dark grey silty clay containing damaged roof tiles and a fragment of burnt mortaria, dating to the 1st or 2nd centuries. It is possible that this ditch was a continuation of what was thought to be a late 2nd-century defensive ditch on the Former Cinema site to the east. Pottery from this ditch is dated to the mid 2nd century. The ditch did not appear to continue as far as Trench 4 to the west, although a vertical cut or terrace near the brook would have truncated any other features.

<1> Northamptonshire Archaeological Unit, 1984, Trial trenching on the cinema site at Towcester, 1983-4, checked (Report). SNN110504.

<3> Burnham B.C.; Wacher J., 1990, The 'Small Towns' of Roman Britain, p.152-8+160 (unchecked) (Book). SNN60720.

<4> Woodfield C., 1992, The Defences of Towcester, Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Article). SNN60159.

<5> Dix B.(ed), 1985, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1983-4, p.152 Towcester (unchecked) (Report). SNN100404.

<6> Thompson, A. & Chapman, P., 2013, Roman settlement and Burial at Water Lane, Towcester, Northamptonshire Excavations 1997-98 (Report). SNN108517.

Record last edited

Oct 19 2017 12:02PM