Monument record 2425/0/1 - Former Course of River Nene

{1} Old river or stream channel was exposed in Trenches 26 & 27 at north & west of area respectively; may not have been watercourse in Roman period but palaeochannel may have marked edge of former meadow as trenching failed to reveal structural activity.
The approximate locations of a series of ancient watercourses within the modern floodplain were plotted by combining information from air photography with visual ground-inspection of the meadowland in the northern part of the evaluation area.

{2} Extra mural activity to west of Roman town: evaluation directed by B Dix.

{3} Flood meadow with paleochannels.

{4}Number of channels noted during machining - some may be related to recent riverine activity (as they were not sealed by alluvial clay), but others found running east across the quarry were found to be of late glacial / early post glacial date. The channels were largely denoted by the presence of bands of sandy silt on the surface of the gravel, and by isolated pockets of more organic material. Environmental analysis carried out on samples from the channels. The analysis indicated that the two palaeochannels were of Late glacial / very early Holocene age (the most probably date is Late younger Dryas / early Pre-Boreal). The palaeochannels probably filled rapidly and their archaeological potential is limited to environmental conditions in the Upper Palaeolithic / early mesolithic.

<1> Dix B.N., 1991, Archaeological Evaluation at Irchester, Northants, 1990-91, p.3, 29-30 (checked) (Report). SNN1694.

<2> Dix B., 1992, Recent Work in Northamptonshire Archaeology, P121 (Article). SNN104441.

<3> Cadman G., 1993, Irchester, Chester Farm: Conservation Survey Archive Report, (checked) (Report). SNN105154.

<4> Northamptonshire Archaeology, 1997, An Archaeological Watching Brief and Pre-Emptive Work at Irchester Quarry, p.4 (checked) (Report). SNN39934.

<5> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Photographs). SNN104822.

<6> MLM Environmental, 2004, Wellingborough East Geo-Environmental Assessment: Southern Routes, (unchecked) (Report). SNN106516.

Record last edited

Mar 13 2015 11:39AM