Monument record 726/4/9 - Roman Defences Adjacent Bury Mount

Successive phases of archaeological investigation have attempted to clarify the location of the defences. The town wall and the internal rampart have both been lost to later activity. The wide, external defensive ditch is located parallel and to the south-west of the modern mill leat.

{2} Letter relating to the excavation finds of some evidence of a succession of ditches but none for a counter-scarp bank

{3} Summary of sites excavated in the defended town;

{4} Evidence for a coeval wall and bank, suggested by a builders' mortary trample directly on the Antonine buried soil on the berm in front of the wall, together with a shallow wet defensive ditch, were constructed in the Antonine period. Some of the Antonine pottery was covered with mortar spattering, probably related to the wall's construction, presumably of the AD170s. A small amount of surviving structure suggests the existence of a possible ascendus or stair platform at the back of the wall, probably late in this phase from slight pottery evidence, but the fact that the stone robbers ignored it suggests an original straight joint, and it may be of later Roman date. A small amount of late 2nd to 3rd century date was found here. Robbing trenches were seen, the form of which suggests the possibility of a projection on the berm, apparently an addition. The bank seems to have been entirely removed, either in the 4th century or later. It seems likelt that considerable remodelling took place, but the date and details cannot be ascertained from this small scale excavation.
Description of the phases of defensive occcupation uncovered during excavations at this site.

{6} Trench 8 was cut to corroborate evidence for the Roman town defences which may have been identified by similar work in 1984. The natural green-grey clay was overlain by a layer of loam c.0.9m thick which contained Roman pottery. This layer was cut by a 4.7m wide feature in excess of 0.75m deep, but it was not possible to excavate deeper because of flooding by ground water. The feature was aligned north-west to south-east. Its north-eastern edge had a gently sloping profile, whilst the south-western edge was rather steeper. It had been interpreted in 1984 as the robbing trench of the Roman town wall. There was no evidence found in 2010 to either contradict or corroborate this interpretation. Pottery recovered from the feature dated to the mid C2nd. Where Trench 1 was widened there was a c.7.5m wide spread of soft dark silty clay, but again this feature could not be excavated. However an almost complete, but broken, early C2nd shelly ware Roman pot was recovered from its surface.

{7} Excavation was undertaken during regeneration works to Moat Lane and the area of the earlier trial trenching was investigated in Area 1. The earliest features were a number of ditches, a timber structure and pits and postholes indicative of backyard activity. The line of the defences was identified but both the rampart and wall had been almost completely removed by later land uses. A broad wide ditch, parallel to the modern mill leat, was interpreted as the external defensive ditch and was at least 4-7m wide although the north-eastern edge lay beyond the area of excavation. To the south were a series of robber trenches which marked out much of the course of the town wall. The remains of the wall appear to lie c8m closer to the ditch than the alignment identified in the 1984 trial trenches. The only surviving masonry was a partly robbed footing for a small rectangular offshoot forming a structure 4m by 2m- possibly a look-out post. It is identical in size to a possible 4th-century bastion found at Cambridge. The rampart had been entirely removed but no contemporary features were recorded in a 6m gap between the projected line of the town wall and a line of postholes, suggesting the rampart occupied this area.

<1> Woodfield, C., 1992?, Bury Mount, (checked) (Draft). SNN51896.

<2> Woodfield, C., 1990, Bury Mount, Towcester, (checked) (Correspondence). SNN51898.

<3> Burnham B.C.; Wacher J., 1990, The 'Small Towns' of Roman Britain, 152-8+160 (checked) (Book). SNN60720.

<4> Woodfield C., 1992, The Defences of Towcester, Northamptonshire, p.25 (checked) (Article). SNN60159.

<5> WACHER J.S., 1993, Town Centre Redevelopment, Towcester, Northamptonshire: An Archaeological Assessment, (checked) (Report). SNN70047.

<6> Upson-Smith T.; Foard-Colby A., 2010, Archaeological Evaluation at Moat Lane, Towcester, Northamptonshire 2006 and 2010, p.10 (checked) (Report). SNN107907.

<7> Cobain, S and Mudd, A, 2017, Moat Lane Regeneration, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Excavation Report (Report). SNN112323.

Record last edited

Jun 23 2021 12:24PM