Monument record 1621 - Titchmarsh Roman Town

Located midway between Irchester and Ashton, Titchmarsh is one of a group of substantial nucleated settlements (Irchester, Ashton, Durobrivae) located at intervals along the Nene Valley that acted as local centres for the extensive agricultural communities in its hinterland. One of the larger small towns (c.15-16ha) Titchmarsh probably acted as a local market, administrative focus and religious centre and lay at a key nodal point in the regions communication network. It does not appear to survive as an important settlement focus into the Early and Middle Saxon periods when occupation probably shifted to nearby Thrapston. Like a number of the Nene valley towns Titchmarsh probably owed its existence to the strategic significance of its location at the junction of two major roads close to a river crossing and at the confluence of the Nene with one of its more significant tributary valleys. As with Ashton and Irchester it appears to have largely developed around a dendritic network of roads and track ways of uncertain date largely to one side of a main road. Little can be said about the town’s historical development in the absence of any significant excavation or systematic survey of its core. The lower terraces on both sides of the river were foci for occupation during the Late Iron Age, while a late Bronze Age defended enclosure has been excavated less than 1km to the south, suggesting that central place functions may have a pre-Roman origin. However the evidence from close by the town for late Iron Age activity is either too insubstantial or poorly recorded to confidently be seen as a precursor to the town’s subsequent development. The construction of the Gartree Road and its river crossing in the first century AD probably marked the most significant event behind the settlement’s subsequent location. Titchmarsh’s layout seems to be based around local considerations of access to areas away from a single looping road off Gartree road and focused on a central religious or official compound. Extensively occupied by the second century, the main frontages occupied by strip buildings may have been located along Gartree road and its looping off shoot to the west. Side roads at the western and southwestern end of the settlement may have largely provided access to two separate shrines and a cemetery on the edge of the floodplain. The religious and official features of the town may have provided a significant impetus to Titchmarsh’s function as a local centre. Scheduled in 2023.

{1} "A stone track runs across the field"

{4} Roman settlement (centred TL 005794) close to the R.Nene flood-plain on gently sloping River Gravel between 100 ft and 150 ft above OD. The site lies at the junction of two Roman roads: Water Newton to Irchester (570) and Godmanchester to Leicester (57a). Air photographs clearly show the actual road junction which is of unusual form. In the surrounding area the cropmarks of ditches, enclosures and buildings are less distinct. On the ground there are large amounts of limestone rubble, presumably from buildings, and
deep ploughing has revealed lengths of masonry walls. Pottery and coins covering the whole Roman period are plentiful, while some Iron Age pottery has also been recorded. Brooches have also been found as well as parts of a stone base or capital.

{5} The Roman town at Titchmarsh lies between the A605 Oundle to Thrapston road and the River Nene. The combined evidence from survey and excavation currently suggest the settlement stretched from the upper parts of the river terrace some 200m east of the modern road to the floodplain and covers approximately 15 ha. The area is geologically and pedologically complex with alluvium to the northwest and sands and ironstone, alongside estuarine clays and limestone, on moving eastward across the site. Webster has suggested that Titchmarsh may have originally been founded on the site of a Roman fort but as yet there is little or no evidence to support this. The recent plotting of air photographic information does suggest that a possible rectilinear enclosure existed towards the eastern end of the town but its plan seems too irregular to have been that of a fort
Given the evidence of excavated examples from other towns (e.g Irchester) it is just as likely that it is either part of an Iron Age enclosure or part of the property divisions of the Roman settlement either side of one of its main roads.
The limited chronological evidence currently available from the excavations around the periphery of the town and field walking and metal detecting within it, suggest that much of the site was occupied from the first century AD onwards. This and the layout of the settlement currently suggest that its origins probably lay in the strategic location it occupied at the junction of two major roads in the region at a crossing of the Nene close its confluence with Harpers Brook. There is no evidence that the town was ever enclosed within a defensive circuit.
The absence of modern published excavation anywhere near the town means that at present little can be said about manufacture or trade. A group of lead weights recorded by metal detectorists close to the course of Gartree road and molten copper alloy fragments from field walking suggest that the strip buildings along its frontage may well have been a primary focus for workshops or shops within the town. Such meagre evidence, however, can do little but suggest the presence of such activities and significant analyses of artefactual and ecofactual assemblages from the few excavations do not seem to have been carried out. In common with a number of the larger settlements considered in this study, however, the large numbers of coins recovered do imply that Titchmarsh acted as a significant local focus for trade and possibly taxation in the later Roman period.
Excavation at Titchmarsh has largely been limited to trial trenching or small-scale rescue work around the fringes of the settlement and thus limits what can be said about its architecture. The good quality and quantity of air photographic evidence, however, in part compensates for this and the lack of modern geophysical survey within the main part of the town. To date, the cropmarks indicate that the southern side of Gartree road at least, and both sides of the looping road through the settlement, appear to have been lined to varying degrees by probable stone foundation strip buildings. In general, this pattern is confirmed by the reports of stone recovered through field walking and perhaps suggests that the smaller side roads were either primarily for access to the surrounding landscape or lined by timber structures less likely to be identifiable as cropmarks.

{6} General discussion of archaeological activity in the area, and finds analysis.

{7} 1982 Cropmark aerial photography of Titchmarsh Roman Town.

{8} 1981 Cropmark aerial photography of Titchmarsh Roman Town.

{9} Salvage work in 1962-3 in the quarries just to the west of the railway embankment on the eastern side of the river recorded a number of ditches and pits containing Late Iron Age ‘Belgic’ type pottery such as carinated bowls (Mon 1621/0/17), though no report or plan of their layout survives. Combined with the recent analysis of 27 Iron Age coins and 6 Colchester brooches (Curteis et al 2000) this evidence suggests the presence of a significant pre-Conquest political and/or religious focus at Titchmarsh. Until further Belgic or Iron Age tradition material is recorded, however, the precise location of this focus remains uncertain as does the degree to which the Roman settlement was its direct successor.
Webster has suggested that Titchmarsh may have originally been founded on the site of a Roman fort but as yet there is little or no evidence to support this. The recent plotting of air photographic information does suggest that a possible rectilinear enclosure existed towards the eastern end of the town but its plan seems too irregular to have been that of a fort. Given the evidence of excavated examples from other towns (e.g. Irchester) it is just as likely that it is either part of an Iron Age enclosure or part of the property divisions of the Roman settlement either side of one of its main
roads.
The limited chronological evidence currently available from the excavations around the periphery of the town and field walking and metal detecting within it, suggest that much of the site was occupied from the first century AD onwards. This and the layout of the settlement currently suggest that its origins probably lay in the strategic location it occupied at the junction of two major roads in the region at a crossing of the Nene close its confluence with Harpers Brook that was linked to a significant Late Iron Age site.
There is no evidence that the town was ever enclosed within a defensive circuit.
There is little evidence of any early/middle Saxon occupation within the town despite finds from field walking and metal detecting that suggest that activity continued into the later fourth century. Rescue work in the quarries across the river, however, recorded a group of four burials post dating Gartree road and the Roman bridges, one of which contained a knife said to date to the seventh century AD. 300m further north, a scatter of Early to Middle Saxon pottery and a well indicate the presence of a small settlement. None of these discoveries, however, suggests any degree of continued urban or local market functions for the area around the Roman town and the absence of significant early medieval discoveries in Thrapston suggests a marked break in local urban settlement.

{11} Geophysical survey of 47ha of land to the east of Thrapston identified significant remains of archaeological features relating to the Roman settlement of Titchmarsh in the north-western corner of the survey area. The features include at least two probable roads, at least one building, probable occupational debris and related enclosure and ditches and pits. Enclosure forming a probable roadside 'ladder' settlement have also been identified.

{12} Trial trench excavation undertaken in 2022 identified Roman remains associated with the western edge of Titchmarsh Roman town; features included ditched trackways, enclosures, metalled surfaces and possible building remains.

{13} Geophysical survey of land to the east of the Roman town in 2005 found evidence of settlement, with anomalies indicative of enclosures, pit clusters and a trackway identified. The strength of the responses indicates that the features are associated with intensive occupation and possible industrial activity. The survey did not determined the limits of the settlement in this location.

{14} A large collection of 112 bronze coins from the Roman site. The coins include four 2nd century: Atoninus Puis, Faustina Junior and two of Commodus. Other coins of the 3rd and 4th centuries included 18 radiates of the mid 3rd century, 51 of the 4th century and a further 39 illegible coins of either the 3rd or 4th centuries.

{15} Finds to date include a Roman lead stellyard weight and a late Iron Age or Roman toggle, iron nails and tile fragments.

<1> Brown A.E. (Ed.), 1970, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1969 (Air Photography), p.32 (unchecked) (Article). SNN58608.

<2> 1966, Roman Britain in 1965, (unchecked) (Chapter). SNN28996.

<3> HALL D.N., 1978, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (8), 22 (part checked) (Newsletter). SNN60830.

<4> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 99/Site 22 (Series). SNN77379.

<5> Taylor J., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Titchmarsh (Roman), Section 1.0 & 2.0 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100748.

<6> Curteis M, Jackson D & Markham P, 1998-9, Titchmarsh Late Iron Age and Roman Settlement, p.164 (checked) (Article). SNN104040.

<7> Foard G.; Richardson D., 1983, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1982 (Aerial Photography), p.180 Titchmarsh (checked) (Notes). SNN100412.

<8> 1982, Aerial Photography in Northamptonshire 1981, p.107 Titchmarsh (checked) (Journal). SNN104561.

<9> Taylor J., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Titchmarsh (Roman), p.7-9 (part checked) (Report). SNN106660.

<10> Brindle, T., 2008, Northamptonshire (Draft), (unchecked) (Chapter). SNN106263.

<11> Villis, R, 2021, Land east of Thrapston, Northamptonshire: Geophysical survey (Report). SNN113580.

<12> Murray, G, 2022, Thrapston Business Park, Northamptonshire: Evaluation report for Archaeological Trial Trenching, April 2022, https://doi.org/10.5284/1112551 (Report). SNN113581.

<13> Shiel D, 2005, Geophysical Survey Report. Thrapston, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN114337.

<14> Brown A.E.(ed), 1982, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1981, Page 174 (Journal). SNN100413.

<14> Historic England, Undated, RCHME: Titchmarsh Roman Settlement, Northamptonshire, 890445 (Archive). SNN116308.

<15> Brown A.E. (ed.), 1980, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1979, P. 168 (Article). SNN56490.

Record last edited

May 19 2025 10:48AM