Monument record 925/1/3 - Possible Romano-British Road, Duston

Excavation of a trench on the Millway/Main Road junction identified a limestone slab surface c1.75m below ground level. It was at least 7m wide.

{1} A possible Roman road was uncovered on 16/8/96 by Miletree Construction. Observation on excavations for a sewer trench revealed a layer of stone suggesting the road was approximately 20ft wide at this point. The stone was revealed at a depth of 1.75m and visible to a width of 7m. The base building blocks of the road were identified as Shelly Upper Estuarine limestone or Blisworth limestone by Dr Diana Sutherland of Leicester University. If accurate, a projection of the road would take it from Bannaventa through Roman Duston to a point in Marefair opposite St Peter's Church. Plan in supplementary file. This route would require crossing the northern arm of the River Nene just north of Westbridge and under the castle walls. The road conjecturally crosses 4946/2/1 at SP734607.

{4} Information about the road layout comes primarily from the 1974 excavations and from the projection of a suggested road line from Bannaventa (Whilton Lodge) along the modern Berrywood Road. Within the settlement little is known about the street plan but from the fragmentary information available it is possible to suggest that much of the settlement at Duston lay along two roads (from Bannaventa to the north west and from Towcester to the south west) that met somewhere around SP732606. At present the direction of any roads to the east or southeast beyond this junction towards Irchester are unknown. It is, however, possible to suggest that the road from the direction of Towcester did not continue northeast beyond the suggested junction because no sign of it was found at Site 1 of the 1970s rescue excavations alongside Weedon Road. A small area of hard standing found in an evaluation of the former Abbey works site to the east of the junction along Weedon Road may be part of a road but its north-south alignment suggests that it is more likely to have been a yard or side track or road.

<1> Blackburn D., 1996, Millway/Main Road junction, Duston, (checked) (SMR Report Form). SNN49171.

<2> Blackburn D., 1997, Report of Findings of St Luke's Archaeological Group to 1997, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN46492.

<3> Blackburn D., 1997, St Luke's Archaeological Group: Second Report, Discussion, Comment and Guide, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN44468.

<4> Taylor J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Duston (Roman), Section 3.1 Communications (checked) (Report). SNN103115.

<5> Blackburn D., 2006, Roman remains in the Duston area, (checked) (Letter). SNN107534.

Record last edited

May 19 2021 11:11AM