Monument record 1008 - Prehistoric and Roman Settlement & Possible Field System

Cropmarks of an extensive settlement comprising enclosures, field boundaries, pit group and ring ditches, possible Bronze Age round barrows, identified on aerial photographs. Magnetometry survey detected numerous responses of archaeological interest that confirm the cropmark evidence. Trial trench excavation in the South east identified three phases of activity in the form of linear ditches, ring ditches and a few discrete features.

{1} An extremely complex set of enclosures, with at least one linear appended set. Info: G.Foard 29/10/1979. NCCAP:SP6667/005-18.

{2} (SP661678) Cropmarks identified in 1979 as numerous rectangular and sub-rectangular enclosures some conjoined with two ring ditches etc

{3} (SP660679) A cropmark site identified in 1981 as enclosures, hut circle(s) and a ring ditch.

{5} Geophysical survey of the south-eastern portion of the cropmark complex revealed rectilinear enclosures with internal subdivisions, ring ditches, pits and possible Bronze Age round barrows, which broadly align with the cropmark evidence, although a further rectilinear enclosure was identified to the west. Further uncertain amorphous responses may also be of interest.

{6} Trial trench excavation identified linear ditches, probable ring ditches and a few discrete features. Stratigraphic relationships suggest at least three phases of activity, although there was virtually no dating evidence. Three sherds of Iron Age pottery and a possible iron spearhead were recovered from a ring ditch which was thought more likely to be part of a Bronze Age round barrow than a roundhouse ring gully. It is considered possible that the site comprised Bronze Age round barrows which were later truncated by a later prehistoric/Roman field system, which would account for the lack of material evidence.

{8} Magnetometry survey, in 2023 of the North-Eastern field within this polygon, detected anomalies that corroborate with the cropmarks. The survey found evidence for a series of rectilinear enclosures with internal subdivisions, ring ditches and pits across the whole survey site. The survey detected also two possible Bronze Age barrows, remains of a trackway, overlapping enclosures, ring enclosures and irregular shaped enclosures.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Brown AE, 1980, Aerial Photography 1980, p. 176 (Notes). SNN104579.

<3> Brown A.E.(ed), 1982, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1981, p. 109 (Journal). SNN100413.

<4> Wolframm-Murray Y.; Davey G., 2013, Geophysical Survey and Archaeological Evalation on land at Grovelands Farm, West Haddon Road, East Haddon, Northamptonshire, November 2013 (Report). SNN109882.

<5> Cockcroft, T, 2022, Geophysical Survey Report: Land off West Haddon Road, East Haddon, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN114589.

<6> Stanley, J, 2022, Land southwest of West Haddon Road, East Haddon, Northamptonshire: Report on an archaeological evaluation (Report). SNN114588.

<7> Dave Pinnock, 2023, Land off West Haddon Road, East Haddon, Northamptonshire: Heritage Management Plan (Report). SNN115718.

<8> Charlotte Mawdsley, 2023, Grovelands Business Park, East Haddon, Northamptonshire: Geophysical Survey Report (Report). SNN115839.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2025 3:03PM