Monument record 1160/339/1 - Medieval and post medieval road surfaces, Gold Street

Archaeological observation of contractors trenches in the 1970s and 2000s have identified a series of road surfaces.

{1} Contractors trenches in Gold Street uncovered a build up of road surfaces & silts up to 1.7m thick, and a find of 1 Medieval pot sherd

{3} Contractors trenches dug in Sept 1975 in Gold St showed a layer of black & grey clay with organic material recorded at a depth of 1.75m to trench bottom at 2.1m. Finds of early medieval pot sherds, leather fragments including part of a shoe, animal bones and wood fragments were also found. Bedrock was observed on only one occasion, at a depth of 2.5m.

{4} The natural substratum was encountered at a depth of 1.5m below ground level. This was overlain by a very compact deposit, up to 0.15m thick, made up of irregular fragments of ironstone with occasional small fragments of limestone. A band of fragmentary river-worn cobbles mixed with irregular ironstone fragments lay above this. Sealing these stony layers was a layer of clay containing small off-cuts of leather and occasional fragments of animal bone.

A brick-built culvert was also identified. It was set just above the level of the possible early cobbled road. The culvert was constructed of red brick bonded with firm grey/white mortar. It had suffered some distortion and appeared to have been deliberately collapsed or dismantled for much of its length. A number of inlets comprising ceramic pipes werenotes entering the culvert at varying intervals. The horizontal axis of the culvert was approx 0.65m and the vertical axis was a maximum of 0.75m. Report on bricks and mortar used, concluding that the culvert was probably constructed in the mid to late 19th century.

<1> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1976, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1975, p.198 (checked) (Journal). SNN169.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.388 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<3> Moore W.R.G.; Giggins B.L., 1977, Fieldwork in Northampton, 1975, p.201 (checked) (Article). SNN2942.

<4> Leigh, D.J., 2010, An archaeological watching brief during water main replacement works in Gold Street, Northampton January-April 2009, pp.5-7 (checked) (Report). SNN106679.

<5> Northampton Development Corporation Archaeology Unit, 1975, West end of Gold Street, Watching brief, 1975 (Note). SNN116724.

Record last edited

Feb 13 2025 3:30PM