Monument record 1276/0/1 - Possible Round Barrow, Collyweston Quarry

Ring ditch investigated by geophysical survey and subsequent excavation. Probably the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, but there were no associated finds. An unurned cremation pit cut the ring ditch. The ring ditch displayed evidence of having been excavated previously (probably in antiquity).

{1} Ring ditch, may not be a perfect circle.

{2} The gradiometer survey has successfully located the ring ditch presumed to be the remains of a Bronze Age barrow. A central pit suggested by the aerial photograph has been detected. The central pit maybe a burial pit but it is large and may represent an unrecorded excavation or maybe natural in origin.

{3} After excavation it is still thought that the square feature within the ring ditch is probably modern in date. The ring ditch had no datable finds but its fill was not the same as the modern feature so it is thought that this is an earlier feature. One explanation is that the ring ditch is a Bronze Age barrow and that the modern feature in the middle is an antiquarian trench, or that the ring ditch represents some kind of enclosure activity.

{4} NCCAP:SK9900/002-3.

{5} The ring ditch was excavated. The ring ditch ranged in shape, size and depth around its circumference from 1.6m to 0.56m wide and 0.82m to 0.2m deep. The ditch was dug into the limestone bedrock and generally had steep stepped sides and a flat base. A causeway was located to the S/SE of the ring ditch measuring 0.56m wide at its narrowest point. The ring ditch was filled with a mid reddish brown clayey sand with frequent angular limestone fragments. The evidence of primary and secondary fills suggesting a recut. Five sherds of shell-gritted pottery were retrieved from the fill. Charcoal and animal bones were also recovered including cattle, sheep, goat and pig. Cutting the fill of the ring ditch to the east of the causeway was a 1,5m long x 0.6m wide circular pit with steep sides and a flat base. This feature contained 1kg of cremated human bone, cattle bone and charcoal all contained within a mid reddish brown layer of silt.

<1> FOARD G.R., 1984, Oral Report to SMR, (unchecked) (Oral Report). SNN50957.

<2> Shiel D.; Shields A.; Stephens C.; Weston D., 1998, Geophysical Survey Report: Collyweston Quarry, Duddington, (unchecked) (Report). SNN42643.

<3> Freke D., 1998, Collyweston Quarry, Duddington, Northamptonshire: An Archaeological Evaluation, (unchecked) (Report). SNN63031.

<4> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Photographs). SNN104822.

<5> Rayner T., 2002, Archaeological Investigations on Land at Collyweston Quarry, Duddington, Northamptonshire (DCQ00), 5.4 (Report). SNN103292.

Record last edited

Oct 3 2023 9:38AM