Monument record 3519/0/2 - Romano-British Settlement (Southern Settlement), With Iron Age & Early Middle Saxon Activity

Archaeological investigations over a period of around 20 years have identified a farmstead which was established in the late pre-Roman Iron Age with continuous occupation until the late 4th century AD. The farmstead comprised a domestic area of enclosures, paddocks, routeways and a probable roundhouse with evidence of field systems extending beyond. The layout of the farmstead indicates that the economy was primarily pastoral in nature. Significant quantities of late Iron Age/early Roman coins and brooches may suggest the presence of a temple or shrine. This farmstead was located some 0.5km to the south of a less substantial farmstead (HER No: 3518/0/1-the northern settlement). In the 2nd century the settlement was entirely replanned; no certain structures were identified and much of the area was occupied by paddocks. The settlement shifted slightly to south in the later Roman period with less concentrated activity comprising possible stone-founded buildings, a corn dryer and paddocks. It is considered likely that the settlement extends further to the west and a circular Roman building (HER No: 3519/0/1) excavated in the 1960s some 70m to the south-west of the main area of excavation is likely to represent one element of this.

{1} A discrete scatter of Romano-British pottery covering about 10 sq m may represent further settlement activity.

{2} At least two periods of activity, Romano-British and early-middle Saxon, are represented. There is also limited evidence that some Iron Age activity may be represented.
Two complexes of intercutting rectilinear and curvilinear enclosures, with associated pits, were detected at either side of, and aligned with respect to, a linear feature. The pattern of features revealed by magnetometry is typical of Romano-British landscapes in the county and no individual features in the data plots can be assigned to the early-middle Saxon period. The cropmarks identified by previous surveys are confirmed to be archaeological in origin and representative of former settlement.
A total of 10.14ha was fieldwalked in the eastern half of Field 3. A possible Iron Age sherd was found, along with 912 Romano-British sherds. A large quantity of Romano-British material was scattered across the western half of the area with a major concentration in the southern corner. A small concentration clusters close to the northern boundary.
90 early middle Saxon sherds were also collected. The distribution of these matches the Romano-British pattern, again peaking in the southern corner with a thinner spread to the north. The assemblage includes two sherds of Ipswich ware and a single sherd of Maxey ware, both datable to the middle Saxon period. Slag was present in negligible quantity.
Metal detecting in Field 3 produced four Roman coins, a thistle brooch fragment, and an undated silver strip.

{3} The trial excavation has confirmed that settlement activity is confined to the western part of the application area, and comprises two main periods, the late Iron Age/early Roman and also early middle Saxon. The archaeology in Field 4 has particularly suffered from recent quarrying and bulldozing as well as the effects of prolonged cultivation. This also explains the large quantities of finds recovered by fieldwalking.
Early middle Saxon features have been identified, although elusive, and possibly more prone to having been destroyed by cultivation.

{4} Excavation of the late Iron Age/Roman settlement was undertaken over a number of years and identified the north, east and south limits; settlement activity extends further to the west as shown by the excavation of a stone-founded circular building in the 1960s.
The settlement, probably a farmstead, was founded in c30 AD probably shifting from an earlier settlement focus to the south (HER NO: 3998/0/1). The core of the settlement comprised a series of subrectangular enclosures, a large oval enclosure and paddocks covering an area of c200m east to west and 150m north to south. One probable roundhouse ring ditch was also identified. Field systems extended up to 300m beyond the settlement core. The predominant economy of the settlement was clearly pastoral where significant separtion of livestock had occurred. A significant number of late Iron Age/early Roman coins and brooches were found in the area of the main settlement focus and may suggest a shrine or temple was present. Four burials were dated to the earlier phase of settlement, three were cremations and one an inhumation. One of the cremations appeared to have been placed in a square wooden box identified as a stain when excavated. The box had iron, copper alloy and lead fittings. An isolated kiln was found in the eastern part of the settlement and a possble oven in the southern.

In the 2nd century AD all the early features had gone out of use and the settlement was replanned with the creation of a compartmentalised system of paddocks with field systems to the south, north and east. Evidence for later features was more sparse with two possible stone structures and a corn dryer and a field system to the north.

Several isolated early middle Saxon pits were found scattered across the southern settlement area. A small quantity of Saxon pottery and a brooch were recovered as probable intrusive artefacts. One pit contained both late Roman and saxon material and may indicate continuity of activity. Another nearby pit contained sherds of a possible Anglo-Saxon mortarium.

<1> 1996, Archaeological Assessment of Land at Bozeat, Northamptonshire: Stage 1 (Desk-Based), p.4 (checked) (Report). SNN75776.

<2> Holmes M., 1996, Archaeological Assessment of Land at Bozeat, Northamptonshire: Stage 2 (Report). SNN72802.

<3> 1997, Archaeological Assessment of Land at Bozeat, Northamptonshire: Stage 3, p.34-5 (checked) (Report). SNN72910.

<4> Atkins, R., 2018, Late Iron Age and Roman settlement at Bozeat Quarry, Northamptonshire: Excavations 1995-2016 (Monograph). SNN111152.

<5> Crank, N. (Editor), 2019, South Midlands Archaeology (49), p. 74-5 (Journal). SNN111755.

Record last edited

Nov 25 2019 2:47PM