Monument record 5366 - Saxon settlement, Stoke Doyle Road

Limited archaeological work in 1979 during the building of a new housing estate at Stoke Doyle Road, Oundle revealed evidence of Anglo-Saxon activity including a sunken-featured building. Further sunken-featured buildings have been identified during subsequent archaeological investigation in the vicinity. Further excavations in 2025 identified an Anglo-Saxon settlement comprising three sunken-featured buildings, a post-built timber structure, pits and a hearth.

{1} Several early Saxon sunken-floored buildings.

{2} A ditch 1.2m wide and 68cm deep at bedrock level, extending for 26m in a straight line. No distinctive layers and no finds. Could be the trench for a robbed out wall.A layer in a shallow cut in the bedrock at least 2.6m x 1.8m in extent. The layer, which contained some animal bone, is almost certainly Anglo-Saxon in date and could possibly be a shallow pit associated with a sunken featured structure.

{3} Excavation of an isolated sunken-featured building. Some 3.4m by 2.5m in size and containing large quantities of pottery, tile and charcoal. The natural base was very uneven, with pieces of stone protruding from a clay matrix. It is very unlikely that the base of the pit ever served as a floor. A slab of limestone, 0.58m long and 0.3m wide, occurred in a central position at the north-west end of the pit and may have provided support for a suspended wooden floor. The only other feature within the pit was a deep hollow in the north corner where it is possible there was a post. Finds include nearly 7 complete Roman ceramic roof tiles and pottery. But importantly the group derived from a secure context and contains a consistent suite of datable ceramic elements which suggest a date in the 5th century. This is reinforced by the reuse of Roman building materials. Carbon 14 dating 380-540AD (68% confidence) 250-600AD (95%). Pottery of the "Oundle type" (A8) included wasters. Imitation and experimentation of late Roman/and early Anglo-Saxon forms. Some 75m to the south was a possible hearth, a rectangular pit measuring 1.95 m X 0.95 m cut 0.3m into the bedrock, and had sides which were fired hard and a base reddened by heat. There was up to 0.1 m of dark ashy soil and charcoal on the bottom of the pit.

{4} Trial trench excavation was undertaken on land to the north and west of the present cemetery. Two further sunken-featured buildings were identified. In the north-western third of Trench 5 the sunken-featured building was c4m in diameter. No postholes or other structural features were identified. Pottery from the fill dated to the early Saxon period. Other finds included animal bone and fragments of slag. Further to the north-west was another possible SFB with another smaller assemblage of early Saxon pottery as well as animal bone and slag.

{7} Oxford Archaeology undertook an archaeological excavation between January and February 2025. The excavation identified activity dating from the Middle Neolithic to the post-medieval period. Middle Neolithic activity was represented by a group of shallow pits. An isolated crouched inhumation burial of a young adult female was radiocarbon dated to the Early to Middle Iron Age. The principal remains comprised an Early to Middle Anglo-Saxon settlement comprising three sunken-featured buildings, a post-built timber structure, pits and a hearth. The largest sunken-featured building measured 5.98m by 4.4m and contained two substantial internal postholes. It produced a large assemblage of Early to Middle Anglo-Saxon pottery, fired clay loom weights, a spindlewhorl, worked bone and antler objects including needles, pin-beaters and a fragment of a bone flute, together with metalwork, animal bone and ironworking slag. Two further sunken-featured buildings measured approximately 3.5m by 2.9m and 3.8m by 2.78m respectively and contained Early to Middle Anglo-Saxon pottery, animal bone, textile-working equipment, metalwork and slag. Surrounding the largest sunken-featured building was a post-built structure, interpreted as a timber hall, measuring approximately 12m by 6m. Associated features included pits and a hearth, one pit producing abundant cereal remains. The pottery assemblage suggests occupation between the late 5th and 7th centuries AD.Medieval and post-medieval activity comprised ridge and furrow cultivation, a boundary ditch and probable stone extraction pits.

<1> Jackson D., Oral Report to SMR, (undated) (Oral Report). SNN101397.

<2> JACKSON D.A., 1979, An Early Anglo-Saxon Settlement at Stoke Doyle Road, Oundle, (checked) (Full Report). SNN1385.

<3> Johnston A.G., 1994, Excavations in Oundle, Northamptonshire: Work Carried Out at Stoke Doyle Road 1979, Blackpot Lane 1985 and St. Peter's Church 1991, p.101 (checked) (Article). SNN40470.

<4> Wolframm-Murray, Y, 2021, Archaeological Trial Trench Evaluation on land at Stoke Doyle Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire, April 2021, https://doi.org/10.5284/1113649 (Report). SNN113859.

<5> Brown A.E. (ed.), 1980, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1979, p. 169-70 (Article). SNN56490.

<6> Crank, N. (Editor), 2022, South Midlands Archaeology (52), p. 64 (Journal). SNN115177.

<7> Kelly Sinclair, 2026, An Anglo-Saxon Settlement at Land off Stoke Doyle Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN117170.

Record last edited

Aug 6 2026 9:53AM