Monument record 1160/197/4 - Medieval Pits and oven, College Street

Three pits dating to the 13th and 14th century and an oven dating to the 12th/13th century were found during trial trench excavation

{1} A trial trench was excavated in April 1979 behind the Nat West Bank on the Drapery prior to extensions to establish how early settlement had spread to this part of the town and to test Lee's theory that the late Saxon defences were located between College Street and the Drapery. Just over 2m of deposits were removed by machine and the remainder was excavated by hand. There were three medieval pits dating to the late C13th or early C14th and containing a high proportion of fine wares. One of the pits truncated a long narrow oven cut into natural at east end of trench. Part of the north face was lined with stone slabs. The sides were much burnt and there was a large quantity of charcoal. The oven dated to C12/13th; plans & sections illustrated. No late Saxon or earlier pottery was recovered.

<1> Williams J.H., 1982, Four Small Excavations on Northampton's Medieval Defences, p67 (Article). SNN1859.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.327 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<3> Williams J.H.; Shaw M.; Hardy S., 1978-1984, Northampton Development Corporation SMR Secondary Record Sheets, M285 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN108.

<4> Brown A.E. (ed.), 1980, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1979, p.172 (checked) (Article). SNN56490.

Record last edited

Feb 20 2025 12:30PM