Monument record 28 - Saxon Settlement, south of Banbury Lane

Cropmarks of conjoined prehistoric enclosures and a possible roundhouse identified on aerial photographs. Trial trench evaluation in 2025 confirmed the presence of a Saxon settlement, comprising enclosures, field systems, ditches and pits that closely correspond with previously identified geophysical anomalies

{2} Air photographs (CUAP, ABW 87, 88) show cropmarks of a group of overlapping, sub-rectangular enclosures and ditches covering a total area of about 2 hectares.

{3} Recent aerial photography shows the northeast features in greater details, indicating that some of the ditches form a further rectilinear enclosure.

{5} Trial Trench undertaken in 2025 found a concentration of mid-Saxon to medieval settlement activity was identified in the western part of the site, comprising interlinked systems of enclosures, field systems, boundary ditches, enclosure ditches, pits, and a possible storage pit. Material evidence from the main enclosure system suggests a mid-Saxon settlement, with pottery represented by shell tempered Maxey-type ware (AD 650-850). A rectilinear enclosure in Area C contained a large charcoal-rich feature with ‘high medieval’ pottery (AD 1100-1300), interpreted as a possible sunken featured building or other form of domestic structure. Finds included animal bone, fired clay, burnt stone and worked flint, including a piercer tool from a recut enclosure ditch. The archaeological features broadly corresponded to geophysical anomalies identifying settlement enclosures, field enclosures, paddock-like enclosures, and associated boundary systems.

<1> Northamptonshire HER Collection of Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, Site 1/p. 101 (Series). SNN77382.

<3> RCHME, 1996, RCHME Aerial Reconniassance/18-JUL-1996, NCC AP: SP 4942/12-14 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112740.

<4> Northamptonshire County Council, 1994, The Northamptonshire National Mapping Programme, SP4942_010 (Digital archive). SNN117168.

<5> Charlotte Cox and Inês Matos Glover, 2026, Land West of Middleton Cheney, West Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Report). SNN117191.

Record last edited

Aug 12 2026 2:42PM