Monument record 3065 - Iron Age & Romano-British Activity, Park Lodge Quarry

Iron Age settlement site consisting of a ditch, a pit and a hoard of 48 sword-shaped currency bars. A Roman iron working site was also found.

{3}During excavation of a pit alignment a hoard of 48 sword-shaped currency bars was found between two pits; the largest hoard yet found in an archaeological context. The bars were directly beneath the modern ploughsoil, so it is possible that some may have been scattered or destroyed and the number was originally higher. The bars were all neatly stacked with the ‘handles’ at one end, but there was no trace of a container or binding material.

The pit alignment began at a linear ditch 1.5m deep and ran at right angles from this to the modern quarry edge, a distance of 120m. The pits were evenly spaced, and where excavated, were square to rectangular in shape with fat bottoms. They had been dug into limestone and clay, and were on average 1.2m deep and 1.6m in diameter. There was little evidence of erosion from the sides of the pits, and it seems likely that after a short period they were deliberately filled in. The only pottery found in the pits is of early Iron Age date, but this may be residual. Other features in the area include a series of shallow ditches of indeterminable date and evidence of Roman ironworking.

{7} During ironstone mining in 1970 a linear ditch of unknown length was revealed. Other features found included a series of shallow ditches. Other features found include evidence of Roman iron working.

{8} The planned length of the alignment was 114 m. and covered 40 pits.The line of pits in all probability continued beyond the working quarry face to the north-east. At its southern end, the alignment terminated at right-angles to a deep linear ditch. The pits were mainly square or rectangular in plan, varying in size between 1.42 m. and 1.92 m. in length and between 1.08 m. and 1.60 m. in width. Their profiles show gently sloping sides and flat bottoms and the resultant box-like form seems to have been the shape originally intended. The spacing between the centres of the pits was extremely regular, the average distance being 2.90 m. with only a 10 cm. variation occurring in the planned area. The distance between the pits varied from 1-1.5 m. The filling in the majority of the pits was quite mixed, suggesting that it was the product of artificial filling.

Ditch A was sectioned at three points and found to be on on average 1.3 m. in depth (into bedrock) and 2.45 m. in width. Surface planning confirmed that it was continuous and of fairly even width. No bank survived, and the ditch sections gave no indication as to which side of the ditch this would have originally been positioned. Dating evidence was meagre. The only finds were a few sherds of Roman grey ware from the upper fill and weathered fragments of Iron Age pottery from the middle fill. The chronological relationship between the ditch and the pit alignment is difficult to assess.
Ditch C survived for a length of 9 m. and may have been associated with the Roman iron working.
Ditch D is stratigraphically later than Ditch A and is probably of Roman or later date. Ironstone fragments were found in the southern end. Its maximum surviving depth was 30 cm.
Ditch B was 45cm deep, and 98cm wide; ditch B.a was 53cm deep and 1.2 m wide. Ditch E was 26cm deep and 60cm wide. No occupation debris was recovered from these ditches. Their dating and purpose remain uncertain, although stratigraphically Ditch E was earlier than Ditch B.

Excavation revealed a hoard of approximately 35 sword-shaped currency bars, some of which were broken. Re-assembly of the broken bars and those found scattered nearby suggests that the total number of bars in the hoard was not less than 48. The bars lay closely packed, in the remains of a shallow pit with their handles or hilts, many of which were in a fragmentary condition, at its south-west end. The shape of the pit suggests that it had been dug simply to contain the bars and not some form of container. It was 30cm wide at the north-east end and increased in width to 40cm at the south-west end. Its depth was c.8cm. The way in which the bars had been positioned indicates that they were placed in the pit in handfuls or perhaps in bundles of about six bars. Preliminary analysis of the metal suggests that local Northampton sand and ironstone could have been the source of the ore used in the bars, but it seems more likely that a nodular seam would have been preferred.
The currency bars overlay the edge of one of the pits of the pit alignment. It may be that the positioning of the bars on the alignment was fortuitous, although the most likely explanation is that the bars were buried on the edge of a shallow depression left after the pit alignment had been largely filled.

Two parallel strips of burnt subsoil overlain by a thin layer of ash, and other scattered traces of burning suggest iron working activity. Parallel strips of burning such as these occur on a number of local sites and are associated with iron smelting furnaces of the Roman period. They are usually 3-3.5 m. in length and probably indicate ore-roasting or forging. On this site, F.43 survived for a length of 1.5 m and width of 45 cm, and F.44 a length of 2.2 m and width of 40cm.

The irregular nature of this feature suggests that it may have originally been a quarry pit. It had a maximum depth of 80cm and was filled with gingery brown soil and stones. Dating evidence from this feature was ambiguous: the very hard gritty fabric of the sherds is unusual in local Iron Age pottery, and may be of Anglo-Saxon date.

{10} Iron Age settlement (?)(about SP 908946) NE of the village, on limestone at 112 m. above OD. A ditch, visible for 70 m. was revealed during removal of topsoil prior to ironstone-mining in 1968. It was just over 2 m. deep and contained late Iron Age pottery.

{12} Figs.6, 7. Black patches of soil marks often associated with slag patches, have been recorded as part of a continuing survey of soil marks in the county.

A bronze pin was also recovered during excavation (Authority 2). It was suggested that if formed the shaft of a ring headed pin of Iron Age date [source unknown]

<1> 1970, Pottery Illustrations: Ditch B, (unchecked) (Illustration). SNN57257.

<2> 1972, Steel News, p.3 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN60512.

<3> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1973, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1972, 8/4 (checked) (Journal). SNN8956.

<4> 1973, Gretton, Northants (6), 3/14 (checked) (Report). SNN58218.

<5> 1973, Bulletin of The Historical Metallurgical Group, 7/46-47 (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN58220.

<6> 1973, DOE Archaeological Excavations (Various Years), (unchecked) (Series). SNN45978.

<7> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.57 site 1 & 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

<8> JACKSON D., 1974, Two New Pit Alignments: 2. A New Pit Alignment and A Hoard of Currency Bars at Gretton, Northamptonshire, 9/36-8 (checked) (Journal). SNN106754.

<9> Jordan, D, Haddon-Reece, D, and Bayliss, A, 1994, Radiocarbon Dates from samples funded by English Heritage and dated before 1981, p. 66-67 (Monograph). SNN112521.

<10> Jackson D., 1970, Fieldwork and Excavation in North Eastern Northamptonshire, p. 40 (Article). SNN4821.

<11> Williams J.H., 1973, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (3), 3/14 (Journal). SNN896.

<12> FOARD G.R., 1982, CHARCOAL BURNING AND IRON PRODUCTION IN NORTHAMTONSHIRE: THE SOIL-MARK EVIDENCE, 12/28-31 (Article). SNN71346.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:35PM