Monument record 726/0/148 - Extra-mural Roman enclosure, east of the Alchester Road

A rectangular Roman enclosure located to the east of the Alchester Road and North of Silverstone Brook. Probably used for horticulture

{1} Ditch sealed beneath a layer of alluvial clay (which contained a 4th century AD coin). Ditch had a flared profile 2-3m wide at the top, but narrowing to 1.2m at the level of the natural gravel.

{4} Excavation in 1998 found the western end of a rectangular enclosure, which correlated with the ditch found during the earlier evaluation. The enclosure was c28m wide with an entrance in the north-western corner. Around the entrance were layers of hardstanding and just to the north was a possible drain/sump, all indicating problems with drainage. Pottery from the ditch fills dated from the late 2nd to 4th centuries.

Within the enclosure were a series of gullies or shallow ditches, typically around 5m apart. The gullies may have been for horticultural purposes, although they were similar in form to features in the Alchester Road suburbs, which were interpreted as land drains.

Outside the south-western corner of the enclosure there was a T-shaped drying oven, with arms 3m long. It was neatly constructed in courses of roughly-squared slabs of limestone bonded with silty clay mixed with yellow mortar. The flue, aligned east-west, was 0.75m wide and the end chamber was 0.45m wide. Scorched and blackened hearth stones lay at the western end of the flue, and a layer of charcoal along the base of the flue and end chamber, presumably the remains of its last use, included charred spelt and bread wheat, as well as chaff that had probably formed part of the fuel. The oven was infilled with dark grey silty clay containing mortar, bone and pottery dating up to the late 4th century.

<1> Meadows I., 1997, Interim Report on An Archaeological Evaluation Off Water Lane and Richmond Road, Towcester: Trial Excavation- Stage 3, (unchecked) (Report). SNN45795.

<2> CHAPMAN A., 1998-9, Towcester, Water Lane, (unchecked) (Note). SNN104049.

<3> Woodfield C., 1998 (circa), Water Lane, Towcester, 1998: Catalogue of Illustrated Late Iron Age and Roman Pottery, (unchecked) (Report). SNN106200.

<4> Thompson, A. & Chapman, P., 2013, Roman settlement and Burial at Water Lane, Towcester, Northamptonshire Excavations 1997-98 (Report). SNN108517.

<5> Thompson, A. & Chapman, P., 2013, Roman settlement and Burial at Water Lane, Towcester, Northamptonshire Excavations 1997-98 Appendices (Report). SNN108519.

Record last edited

Jun 28 2018 10:24AM