Monument record 5390/0/1 - Late Neolithic Ditched Enclosure, West Cotton

A ditched enclosure of probable Late Neolithic date, one of a complex of monuments examined as part of the Raunds area project. Only the western side of the enclosure was excavated, where it overlapped with the outer circuit of "Barrow 6" (SP 97 SE 88). However, geophysical survey has also been undertaken. The enclosure appears to measure circa 32 metres by 27 metres, and to have a broadly egg-shaped appearance on a northeast-southwest alignment. No internal features were noted in the excavated area, although there is likely to have been an internal bank. This bank appears to have been both visible and respected during construction of Barrow 6's outer ditch. Geophysical survey suggests that there was no entrance causeway along the enclosure circuit. Finds were few, but included some sherds of Grooved Ware.

{1} Late Neolithic/early Bronze Age activity. 45m to the north-east of 'the long enclosure' was a smaller 'oblong ditched enclosure'. The enclosure was only partly exposed; it was c.33m long x 20m wide; indications of a possible internal bank were found.

{3} Ditched enclosure 33m x 20m; it predates the latest ditch.

{4} A separate enclosure was situated 45m to the north-east where it pre-dated the latest ditch of the round barrow 5390/1/1. The enclosure comprised a ditch, V-shaped profile 1.2 to 1.6m wide and up to 0.6m deep. No dating evidence was recovered and function was unclear.

{6} This monument may have been built in the 3rd millennium. Only its west side was within the excavated area. It lay on the same axis as the Long Enclosure and the Turf Mound and shared their south-west/north-east orientation. No internal features were identified, no sign of an entrance and the bank was internal. The were no finds from the primary ditch fills and only a small Grooved Ware rim sherd and a fragment of fired clay from the secondary silts. A terminus ante quem for the construction of the enclosure is provided by a date of 2030-1870 cal BC at 89% probability from a cremation burial cut into the secondary fills of the outer ditch of Barrow 6, which was cut through the enclosure ditch.

<1> Windell D., 1988, West Cotton Excavations, (unchecked) (Interim Note). SNN39521.

<2> Windell D., West Cotton, Raunds: The Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Ritual Focus, (unchecked) (Report). SNN55619.

<3> 1993, SMR REPORT FORM, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN48779.

<4> Dix B. (editor), 1986-7, The Raunds Area Project: Second Interim Report, p.13 (checked) (Article). SNN76070.

<5> FOARD G.R.; PEARSON T., 1985, The Raunds Area Project: First Interim Report, p.4 (checked) (Article). SNN69970.

<6> Harding, J. and Healy, F., 2008, The Raunds Area Project: A Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape in Northamptonshire, p. 115-117 (Report). SNN106245.

<7> Harding, J. and Healy, F., 2011, The Raunds Area Project: A Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape in Northamptonshire Volume 2 Supplementary Studies (Report). SNN108037.

<8> Windell D.; Chapman A.; Woodiwiss J., 1990, From Barrows to Bypass: Excavations at West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire, 1985-1989 (Report). SNN62621.

<9> Gibson, A. (Ed.), 1989, Midlands Prehistory: Some Recent and Current Researches Into the Prehistory of Central England, p. 85-94 (Series). SNN106973.

Record last edited

Jan 29 2024 3:43PM