Monument record 1641 - Irchester Roman Town

Irchester is one of fourteen nucleated settlements in the county that probably acted as a local or regional centre during the Roman period. Irchester is one of three larger settlements in the county, which at some point was enclosed with a defensive circuit that suggests their particular significance as local nodal points in the provincial road networks as administrative centres in the later Roman period. It does not appear to have survived as a significant focus for settlement into the early-middle Saxon period, though there is some limited evidence for continuing occupation at the very end of the fourth or even fifth century. Irchester seems to have owed its existence to its strategic location at a crossing of the Nene valley at the point where it is joined by the River Ise. Furthermore, it sits at a narrow point in the valley accessible from the large embayments around Wollaston and Grendon to the southwest and Rushden and Higham Ferrers to the east. In keeping with several larger settlements of the period in the region, it appears to have initially developed around a local dendritic network of roads and trackways largely to one side of a major Roman long distance route; in this instance a north south route from Kettering to Magiovinium across the Nene valley. Located midway between Duston and Titchmarsh, Irchester was one of a string of local centres (Duston, Irchester, Titchmarsh, Ashton and Durobrivae) located at intervals along the Nene valley that acted as local service centres to the extensive agricultural communities located both along the valley itself and in the surrounding hills. One of the largest of the small towns locally (c.18ha) Irchester probably acted as local market, administrative focus and religious centre for one of the richest parts of the region and lay at a key nodal point in its communications network. Little can be said in detail about the town’s historical development because past investigations have failed to document the chronological evidence for discoveries with any reliability, but the locale was already densely occupied in the Iron Age and may have been a site of special significance, given its location between two major blocks of land along the valley around Wollaston and Rushden/Higham Ferrers. The unusual Iron Age enclosure, part excavated under salvage conditions in the 1960s, may have marked an important communal focus which in part provided a context for the towns subsequent location. The construction of the main Roman road, however, probably marked the most significant event behind Irchester’s subsequent development. Irchester’s extensive layout seems to owe much to essentially local considerations of access to pre-existing agricultural landscapes during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Clearly well established by the 2nd century, the core area of some 8ha was enclosed within a rampart and ditches during the second half of the 2nd century, and subsequently re-emphasised with a stone wall and turrets. Though clearly affecting the layout of the settlement’s roads and some of its buildings, this does not seem to have marked a phase of retrenchment with continuing activity recorded over much of the extra-mural zone until at least the mid-4th century. The core area of the town was densely occupied, with many stone founded strip buildings and small ‘cottage type’ buildings aligned along the street frontages, and especially the chief curving north-south road through its centre. Little is known about the buildings but Baker’s excavations in the nineteenth century suggest that a temple stood to the east of the north-south road, between two east west side roads, one of which probably linked the town with the main through route. Further circular stone buildings to the southwest may also have been local shrines although evidence for such an interpretation is scanty. Recent air photographic analysis of the town further indicates that another Romano-Celtic temple lay in the southwest quarter of the intra-mural area. If all were religious buildings, it would indicate that the walled part of the town enclosed a significant religious complex, which may have provided a significant impetus to Irchester’s significance as a regional centre.

{1} Quotes Morton.

{2} Town at Irchester has pre-Roman background which included late Iron Age occupation south of town walls; this occupation continued into the C1st AD and may have formed a vicus beside a possible early Roman fort. Settlement was thriving by the late C1st with occupation extending over a wider area than was later walled. The settlement appears to have developed with irregular streets unlike later planned defences. Earthwork fortifications were erected in the later C2nd and a masonry curtain wall at a later date. The buildings within the town are a mixture of narrow strip-like structures possibly representing shops and workshops. There are also more elaborate structures with architectural pretensions including carved stones and painted wall plaster. The religious element appears to predominate at the core of the town indicating one of its possible functions. Evidence for extra-mural activity appears widespread but may have been dispersed on ribbon-development along roads. There is little evidence for the demise of the town; the latest known building had been built over deposits containing late C4th coins and pottery. Bronze bowls from the cemetery date from the late C4th to early C5th.

{17} In the area excavated, occupation began in Claudian times, perhaps as the extra-mural settlement of an auxiliary fort. It continued in the later C1st and C2nd until, some time in the period AD150-200, the open settlement was enclosed by a bank 40ft wide, composed of ironstone and occupation soil. Subsequently, the front of this bank was cut away to accommodate a wall 8-10ft wide of mortared limestone, with pitched footing and a coursed-rubble facing and with a trapezoid internal turret at the south-west angle. The presence of a wide ditch in front of this wall and Baker's record of the blocked western gateway implies that the defences were remodelled in the C4th to accommodate artillery. Early in the C5th a crudely built wooden structure was built to the rear of the town bank. This late building and the hoard of late C4th bronze vessels found in 1873, patched and worn, in the cemetery mark the final phase of the history of the Roman town.

{23} Trial-trenching and salvage work revealed a surprisingly low density of occupation which might suggest 'ribbon-pattern development' along the major roads.

{24} Quotes Morton. Bridges recorded the substantial nature of the defences and some of the finds, including fragments of tessellated pavement brought up by the plough.

{25} A Roman 'camp' occupies Burrowfield and Roman finds have long been known from the site. Walls 8' thick were noted by Morton and ironstone digging led to further discoveries in 1873-4 followed by not very successful excavations by the Rev R S Baker in 1878-9.

{26} More concerted antiquarian investigation took place over a number of years in the C19th by Rev.Baker. He recovered the plans of several buildings within the walled area by excavation carried out in advance of the removal of cartloads of stone to facilitate ploughing.

{30} Inside the defences Baker’s excavations and the air photographs indicate a densely occupied zone fronting onto the main northeast to south through road. The precise nature of most of the buildings in this area is not easy to determine but it is clear that rectangular stone foundation strip buildings and simple 2-4 roomed unit types dominated this part of the settlement. On the available evidence, other types of public buildings, courtyard houses, and aisled buildings are absent both inside and outside the walls of the town, though the latter are generally not found in the immediate area in any case.
Outside the walls, the rescue excavations to the south indicate that this pattern of dense occupation extended at least a further 100m along both probable road frontages, and continued from at least the later C1st to the C4th AD.
Field walking to the west of the town and the results of the excavations have failed to identify any significant evidence for iron working or pottery or tile production (with the exception of a single badly damaged pottery kiln, Mon 1641/0/12), the most readily recognisable products archaeologically. Strip buildings are usually associated with workshops and, or shops for the marketing and exchange of produce but in the absence of demonstrable evidence to this effect it is still largely a supposition. If correct however, it suggests that Irchester was quite a significant market centre regionally. The absence of modern investigation into the core of the settlement however, and any synthetic work on the finds from the excavations and evaluations on its fringes, currently provides little opportunity to investigate the settlement’s likely function as a centre for trade and exchange. Recent studies by Reece (1991) and others have demonstrated the value of assessing the total coin diagrams from larger sites in order to better understand their likely chronology, and monetary role, but at Irchester this evidence has yet to be collated.
There is insufficient evidence at present to know whether the simpler buildings in different parts of the settlement were used for different purposes and indeed to be able to say anything of significance about possible timber buildings.

{31} Aerial photography 1981, cropmark Romano British town noted.

{35} The site consists of the remains of the walled town and an extensive extra-mural settlement, lying at the junction of two, or perhaps three, Roman roads. Article contains description of site and brief overview of previous investigations and results. Includes plans.

{48} Irchester is a walled Roman town located on the south side of the Nene valley. The origins of settlement are difficult to disentangle, but there are several known Iron Age sites in the immediate vicinity of the Roman town. They might have contributed to its development, or it may simply be that they shared the same natural location.
The presence of a road network and a river crossing may have been more significant contributing factors to the development of the town. It has been shown from excavations at Grendon and Wollaston that at least one Roman road leading to the town had its origins as an Iron Age pit alignment and later a ditched droveway, perhaps suggesting that there was a pre-Roman focus at Irchester. The town is located at a suggested nodal point in the Roman road network, with routes crossing the river; however, the courses of many of the routes have not been fully verified by excavation.
The Roman town covers an area of about 18ha. It has produced clear evidence of occupation in the C1st AD and was probably well established by the C2nd AD. During the later C2nd the defensive circuit was imposed over the central part of the existing settlement. Construction of the town disregarded the pre-existing street pattern, truncating many of the road lines.
The town was positioned largely on a saddle of land, with some evidence for enclosures extending down onto the floodplain, but with the enclosed land parcels giving way to open meadow, presumably reflecting land that may have been more prone to seasonal inundation. The morphology of the whole town, whilst at first glance appearing somewhat irregular, probably reflects efforts to minimise the problems of ground water and surface water drainage. The core of the town on the higher ground has roads that flare out over the saddle, perhaps thereby assisting drainage in that area, while the curving form of the western suburb was probably dictated by the desire to avoid the adjacent slade or shallow valley, which would have concentrated and conducted surface water. The enclosures appear to narrow at the point where any water draining down the slade would have crossed the suburb.
Known structures comprise both strip buildings and possible workshops along with structures of some quality, as is shown by the past recovery of a column capital, a statue and a fragment of a monumental tomb of a Strator. The inscription onthis tomb fragment has been used by some authors to suggest the area around Irchester may have been used for horse breeding, since a strator was in charge of the horses of the Governor. There is little evidence of any industrial activity associated with the town, other than a single pottery kiln so the role of the town was probably largely as a local market and administrative centre.
For most of its length, the main street is flanked on both sides by rectangular stone buildings, with these continuing alongside the road running into the north-east corner of the town. There are further stone buildings in the western part of the town and the south-eastern corner. Alongside the main street the buildings are mostly aligned with their narrow gable ends fronting onto the street. Some appear to be simple, singlecelled stone structures, although internal divisions within these smaller strip buildings were probably provided by wooden partitions, which would not be susceptible to detection by this type of survey. Others show the presence of one or two internal stone partition walls forming two or three-roomed strip buildings. The strip buildings range in size from 8m by 4m to 16m by 6m, and may have served a combination of functions including workshops, shops and domestic accommodation.
The evident stone buildings take up only a small proportion of the interior of the walled area. However, it is worth noting that many Roman towns were predominantly occupied by timber buildings. Sites such as the Wallbrook in London contained timber and earth-walled buildings (Perring et al 1991, 71-5), Castle Street, Carlisle had timber buildings (McCarthy 1991) and Wanborough had timber buildings that had no earthfast elements (Wacher 1975).
Previously large parts of the fields to the west of the walled area were surveyed using geophysics. Here there is an area of extramural occupation comprising a curved track/road alongside a series of small enclosures, some of which have been found to contain buildings fronting onto the road. To the south of the walled town an area of extramural occupation is defined by a rectilinear ditch system, which lies to the east of a road running nearly north to south and which also has sharply defined limits both to the east and south. The immediate west and south of Chester Farm were also surveyed. Here the elements of the defensive ditch system flanking the eastern walls of the town, an adjacent minor route and at least two extramural ditched enclosures were identified. A sample area within the walled town was also surveyed producing outstanding results in which individual buildings could be identified along with some internal details.
Magnetometer survey in late 2009/early 2010 within the walled town revealed a dense concentration of anomalies.
Within the walled circuit of the town the complexity of the numerous minor ditch lines is such that it is impossible at present to identify coherent overall ditched enclosure systems, although certain elements do stand out. It is probable that the area had an initial phase of ditched enclosures that pre-dated the wall circuit and probably defined small land parcels and property allotments. The construction of the wall circuit may have focussed significant activities, such as administration, within the circuit, requiring a redesign of the ditched boundary system to define new properties, and perhaps also to provide surface drainage.
Several of the internal ditch systems can be suggested as following the edges of elements of the internal road network, presumably serving to direct surface water drainage away from buildings. Simple quantitative observation shows there are more ditch anomalies to the west of the main street, perhaps suggesting that area had a greater number of phases of land allotment modifications. In contrast, the area to the east of the axial street had fewer ditch-type anomalies and those that were present seemed generally slighter, perhaps indicating that these property boundaries were more stable.
One ditch line was notable by its absence in the present survey. In the RCHME survey (1979, p.92-3) a major ditch was recorded running westeast across the interior of the town, apparently pre-dating the north-south road. This feature was the subject of detailed consideration as perhaps forming part of an earlier fort, but its non-appearance in the current survey might suggest it was a soil mark perhaps associated with the ironstone tramway, whose course would have passed to its south.

{50} Archaeological excavation of a service trench along the Lime Avenue revealed part of a 4th century Roman inhumation cemetery. Over 100 burials were identified. Other remains included a Roman landscape of of discrete features, primarily boundary ditches and pits, pre-dating the burials. A track or hollow-way post-dated the cemetery and probably belonged to the late Roman or Saxon period.

{52}Area of Romano-British town was "deep ploughed" by steam plough "….a few years back…." by Mr Blott; foundations of buildings were ploughed up & many loads of stone removed;

{53}Southern part of interior contained many stone buildings; plans are confused but show indiscriminate grouping & irregular orientation not consistent with fort; painted wall plaster [marked M on plan] & plain brick & tile pavements indicate civilian dwellings;,

{52}Area of Romano-British town was "deep ploughed" by steam plough "….a few years back…." by Mr Blott; foundations of buildings were ploughed up & many loads of stone removed;

{56} Description and dimensions and photo of Roman vessels found at Irchester, also maps, plans, sketches and measurements;

{58} Well built stone walls showing two periods of construction, a road leading eastwards from the E-gate, many skeletons and numerous small objects were observed by Dr W W Robb in making a cutting across the earthworks on the east and west of "Camp" or "Borrow" Field.

{59} Roman town on AP in 1978.

{60} Archaeological remains found in the 1920's (see Authority 58), during workings at Irchester Roman town and Cherry Orchard Quarries, comprised coins and stone coffins with lead lining, one of which contained the skeleton of a man nearly seven feet tall, along with that of a young boy. This was sent either to Northampton or Middlesbrough Museum. A tiled road was also uncovered, and a well with broken pottery. Roman town (SP 917667) A detailed description of the architectural masonry from the town has been published. Further references to a Roman lead coffin found in 1876 are listed in BAR.

{61-65} An extensive range of aerial photographs were viewed and the cropmarks of the Roman settlement and earlier Iron Age enclosure was mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. The main network of metalled roads within the walled (partially surviving as earthworks and visible on recent lidar imagery) settlement as well as the foundations of individual buildings were visible as cropmarks. The buildings included a possible temple building at SP 91729 66611 and four circular features at SP 91735 66621, SP 91751 66670, SP 91607 66619, SP 91624 66672.

Other features were visible as ditches, some of these such as the square enclosure at SP 91610 66537 and a curvilinear ditch at SP 91758 66521 likely predate the Roman settlement and are Iron Age in date. To the west of the settlement are further linear banks and ditches which are possibly related.

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Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:57PM