Monument record 6701/1 - Romano-British Road Route

Roman road believed to link the Roman settlement at Kettering in the south-west to Great Casterton in the north-west. The road has been identified during an excavation at Stanion villa where it fords Harpers Brook and to the north at Priors hall. Cropmarks and earthworks of the roadside ditches and agger have also been identified along its probable route and lidar analysis has extended the route of the road north to the county boundary.

{1} B.Dix (1988, p.106) believed that the main road was probably joined by a side road from the north-east, identified at nearby Weekley, that would have linked Kettering to the road to Great Casterton. If true the settlement at Kettering then lay at the junction of two significant local routes, a pattern of development seen elsewhere at Titchmarsh and Kings Sutton.

{2} The agger of the road is visible as a slight earthwork between SP 9087 8479 and SP 9150 8559 on LIDAR imagery in Geddington Chase.

{5} RR574 (x) Kettering via Laxton to Great Casterton. Recent excavation evidence from Stanion Villa and the Priors Hall sites as well as an examination of data from other villa sites and lidar survey data have established a route from Kettering Roman town to Great Casterton, via Laxton.

<1> Taylor, J., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Kettering (Roman), Section 3.1 Communications (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100751.

<2> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, Viewed 23/10/2019 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

<3> Lambert, P, 2022, Priors Hall Corby, Zone 3, Areas B, C, D and E: Post-excavation assessment and updated project design (Report). SNN114188.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2022, South Midlands Archaeology (52), p. 70 (Journal). SNN115177.

<5> 2024, Roman Roads in 2023- recent research and fieldwork on Roman roads in Britain, p. 339-343; Dr Wayne Kirk (Article). SNN116690.

Record last edited

Jan 7 2025 3:44PM