Monument record 6427 - Iron Age, Romano-British (& Early Middle Saxon) Settlement With Associated Field System, The Lodge

The settlement at The Lodge had its origin in the earlier middle Iron Age as a single roundhouse and enclosure forming a small outlier on the southern margin of the DIRFT complex of Iron Age settlements, expanding through the middle Iron Age. The settlement was re-established on higher ground to the south either shortly before or after the Roman Conquest and was set within a complex pattern of minor boundary ditches. There were few pretensions to a Romanised lifestyle. Settlement continued, albeit in a contracted form, until the second half of the 4th century. An early Anglo-Saxon sunken-featured building and a pit were the latest features on site.

{1} Iron Age/Romano-British settlement to west of Watling Street comprising enclosures and a field system. The circular features may be either roundhouses or round barrows.

{3} Iron Age and Romano-British ditched enclosures and a field system. There are also pits, gullies and circular features (possibly round barrows); pottery recovered is of Iron Age date (C2nd BC-AD C1st) and Romano-British (AD C1st-4th).

{4} Extensive open area excavation of two Iron age settlements and a Romano-British settlement…. The Romano-British settlement comprised multi-phase rectilinear boundary ditches defining a complex enclosure system abutting a major linear boundary, but no associated houses were located. Direct continuity from the Iron Age to the Roman was not established.

{5} Watching brief was carried out during commencement of site development. Particular emphasis was given to area immediately around the previously excavated Iron Age and Romano-British sites at the Lodge. Further features related to these sites were recorded.

{9}Iron Age settlement comprising several adjoining groups of roundhouses and ancillary structures - an open settlement

{10} Excavation of at The Lodge was undertaken between August and October 1994. The northern part of the area was an Iron Age settlement established in the earlier middle Iron Age, perhaps the middle to late 4th century BC, with a roundhouse and adjacent oval enclosure. By the early 3rd century BC the settlement had expanded to comprise at least three, perhaps four, discrete clusters each of two or three structures, with at least 15m between each cluster. The settlement remained tightly constrained, extending some 175m down the hillside but no more than 62m east to west and may be seen as comprising four family groups. Each cluster was distinctive suggesting each had a specific function; one may have been of the principal domestc houses for the settlement, another was perhaps associated with crop storage and processing while another was associated with the pastoral economy of the site.

The Roman settlement comprised a dense palimsest of intersecting linear and curvilinear ditches and gullies in use between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. The settlement enclosures lay to either side, but largely to the east, of the boundary system that had originated in the Iron Age. The settlement continued to the south, possibly beyond the railway cutting. Due to constraints during excavation only broad patterns of settlement structure and changes through time could be defined.

Early/middle Saxon activity comprised a sunken-featured building, 3.0-3.2m square, and a pit which contained some large cobbles and a primary deposit of pottery, which included a large jar, dated to the 5th-7th centuries AD. Both were located in the southern part of the excavated area.

<1> STRATASCAN, 1993, Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal: Report on Geophysical Survey (Report). SNN1369.

<2> RPS CLOUSTON, 1994, Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal: Archaeological Evaluation Interim Report (Interim Report). SNN1370.

<3> RPS CLOUSTON, 1994, Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT): Archaeological Evaluation, (checked) (Report). SNN106052.

<4> Chapman A., 1994, SMR Report Form (SMR Report Form). SNN49460.

<5> Chapman, A., 1996, DIRFT watching brief (SMR Report Form). SNN49467.

<6> RPS CLOUSTON, 1994, Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT): Archaeological Evaluation (Appendices), (checked) (Report). SNN70454.

<7> RPS Consultants, 2001, Daventry: DIRFT Phase 2, Environmental Statement, (unchecked) (Report). SNN102487.

<8> CHAPMAN A., 1994, Excavation of Iron Age and Roman Sites at The Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (Report). SNN72934.

<9> CHAPMAN A., 1994, SMR REPORT FORM (Notes). SNN49459.

<10> Masefield R. (ed), 2015, Origins, Development and Abandonment of an Iron Age Village (DIRFT Volume 2), p. 114- 166 (Monograph). SNN110565.

<11> CHAPMAN A., 1994, Excavation of Iron Age and Roman Sites at The Daventry International Rail Freight (DIRFT) Terminal (Report). SNN75782.

<12> Horne, B (Editor), 1995, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (25), p. 37-39 (Journal). SNN100611.

<13> Burnham, B C, Keppie, L J F, Esmonde Cleary, A S, Hassall, M W C, and Tomlin, R S O, 1995, Roman Britain in 1994, p. 354 (Notes). SNN112936.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:09PM