Monument record 5115 - Middle Iron Age settlement, north-east of Rothersthorpe Services

Archaeological investigation has identified a middle Iron Age settlement comprising a large rectangular enclosure, only part of which was available for investigation, containing at least four roundhouse ring ditches and associated small enclosures. The southern part of the settlement has been lost to the M1.

{1} Trial excavation on site of cropmarks, 6 ditch segments excavated as were smaller features not seen on aerial photographs, finds of worked bone and Iron Age pottery.

{2} Archaeological evaluation of a series of cropmarks to the east of Brook Farm indicate that the enclosures date to the middle Iron Age, possibly between the 4th-2nd centuries BC.

{5} Middle Iron Age features were recorded during the construction of a new motorway junction 15a.

{7} Close to the Wootton Brook, approximately 0.6km to the west of Milton Ham, are the sites of two middle Iron Age settlements that were investigated prior to the industrial development of the area in the early 1990s.

{10} Archaeological excavation was undertaken prior to development of two middle Iron Age settlements. The southern settlement comprised a ditched rectilinear enclosure with an entrance to the south-east. There were five ring ditches in the northern half of the enclosure, comprising two pairs and a single ring ditch to the east just inside the entrance, but the southern half had been lost under the M1. Just south of and parallel to the northern enclosure ditch there was a V-shaped ditch 0.90m deep, only excavated in the evaluation, which continued at least 20m further to the west. Unfortunately, the relationship between the enclosure and the linear ditch was not established, but the less intense magnetic response of the linear ditch indicated that it contained less occupation debris, suggesting that it pre-dated the enclosure. It is suggested that it was perhaps a pre-existing linear land boundary that dictated the location of the enclosure on that boundary.

{12} An enclosure recorded on AP in 1982.

<1> 1989, SMR REPORT FORM, (unchecked) (Note). SNN49088.

<2> Shaw, M. & O'Hara, P., 1989, Archaeological Evaluation at Brook Farm, Northampton (South West District), (unchecked) (Report). SNN57228.

<3> 1994, Land Near Rothersthorpe Service Station, Northants: Archaeological Recording Action, 1994 (Interim report), (unchecked) (Interim Report). SNN58267.

<4> Dix B., 1992, Recent Work in Northamptonshire Archaeology, p121 (Checked) (Article). SNN104441.

<5> Musgrave E.C.; Tingle M. (editors), 1991, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1990, p108 Rothersthorpe (Article). SNN100325.

<6> 1989, SMR Report Form, (unchecked) (SMR Report Form). SNN49087.

<7> Carlyle S., 2010, Neolithic Cremations And A Romano-British Enclosure at Milton Ham, Northampton, February and March 2008, p.4 (part checked) (Report). SNN107968.

<8> Rees G., 2008, Enclosure Boundaries and Settlement Individuality in The Iron Age, (unchecked) (Article). SNN106040.

<9> Welsh T.C., 2002, Small Rectangular Ditched Enclosure, Rothersthorpe (within Northampton) SP726574, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN102092.

<10> Holmes M; Chapman P, 2005, Iron Age Settlement at Swan Valley Business Park near Rothersthorpe Northampton, 1994-6 (Article). SNN112198.

<11> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, NCC AP: SP7257/1 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<12> Foard G.; Richardson D., 1983, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1982 (Aerial Photography), P. 182 (Notes). SNN100412.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:05PM