Monument record 4620 - Bronze Age to Medieval activity, near Bottomclose Spinney

Excavations undertaken from 2022 to 2023 found evidence for activity that comprises of Bronze Age cremation burials, Iron Age pit alignments and enclosures, Anglo-Saxon pit with a human skull and Medieval ridge and furrow.

{1} Cropmarks of enclosures, ditches and other very faint ditches which were not plotted.

{3} Enclosure (SP 703627), lies in the S. of the parish, on limestone, at 99 m. above OD. Air photographs (in MR) show the cropmarks of a small trapezoidal enclosure 0.3 hectares in area. No interior features or entrances are visible. It may be associated with other enclosures to the S.E. in Harpole parish.

{4} Excavation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology from May 2022-2023 that found a great amount of archaeology. The findings will be listed with accordance to the time periods. The earliest activity in this area came in the form of three cremation burials and potential cremation-related pit that date to the Bronze Age. A pit alignment represented the earliest evidence of settlement related activity within this area that date to the early Iron Age. This comprised of 59 pits. Pottery recovered from these features suggests that the pit alignment was established in the early Iron Age and were potentially kept open into the middle and late Iron Age. The middle to late Iron Age activity comprises evidence of settlement and landscape organisation including enclosures, ring gullies and discrete pits and post holes.During the transition from late Iron Age to early Roman period, three enclosures were established. Thereafter, there is no evidence for Roman activity recorded from the excavation. Anglo-Saxon/early Medieval activity comprises an early to middle Anglo-Saxon pit, which contained a human skull. Radiocarbon analysis was undertaken ona fragment of the human male skull bone, which produced a date range of 772-952 cal. AD, indicating an early medieval/Anglo-Saxon date during the 8th to 9th centuries. Evidence of activity for the Medieval period comes in the form of ridge and furrow, with a good level preservation.

<1> FOARD G.R., 1978, Oral Report to SMR, (checked) (Oral Report). SNN51363.

<2> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, NCCAP:7062/008-15+21-28+32-35 (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 98/Site 2 (Series). SNN77381.

<4> Grace Griffith, 2024, Land West of Northampton Northamptonshire: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design (Report). SNN116528.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 6:55PM