Monument record 3114 - Romano-British Settlement

Cropmarks show enclosures, one of which contains complex internal features and many pits. Roman pottery suggests a settlement. Mesolithic flints and microliths were found.

{1, 8} Roman settlement (SP 933664) 500 m. NW of Knuston Hall, on sand at 49 m. above OD. Air photographs show an irregular enclosure with complex internal features, a small adjacent enclosure, and a large number of pits to the NE. There are other ditches in the area but these are not clear on the available air photographs.

{4} SP 933663. RB pottery and a roof tile fragment found in 1968.

{5} (SP 932664) Me flints and microliths found February 1968. A E Rollings and G Willmott.

{6} AP of large enclosure. R Hollowell, July 1969. (Nothing visible on available APs RAF 1960).

{7} This site is at present understanding corn. No crop variation is visible from ground level. Present location of finds not known.

{9-10} The cropmarks described above were mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project from aerial photographs. The main enclosure is a D-shaped enclosure which measures about 70metres by 85metres, with an entrance on the northwest side. Internally a circular enclosure is visible also with a northwest entrance gap. Other probable enclosures are visible on the outside on the D-shaped enclosure. One to adjoin the D-shaped enclosure may suggest a further annexe and phase. The cropmarks likely date to the Iron Age or Roman periods based on morphology and nearby finds.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.91 site 6 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP96NW20 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<3> Hall D.N., 1972, Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal (Vol.7), 7/14 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN105868.

<4> Moore W.R.G., 1968, Roman Settlement in the Upper and Middle Nene Valley, p.60 (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN15188.

<5> Northampton Museum 6 Inch Map (Map). SNN10162.

<6> Oblique Aerial Photograph, Aps (R Hollowell) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<7> Colquhoun, FD, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, F1 BHS 7-JUL-70 (Notes). SNN111540.

<8> Oblique Aerial Photograph, A/P (CUAP AGE 8,9, ZD 96, 97, ZE 10) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<9> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 27808/6 15-JUL-2013 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<10> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 26266/15 01-JUN-2009 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<11> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP, MD003015 (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:35PM