Monument record 2383 - Site of Late Iron Age enclosures, Stoke Doyle Road

Site with a possible origin in the 1st century BC and abandonment after the 1st century AD. Little material evidence

{1} Cropmarks of enclosures, two parallel ditches and rectangular enclosure; TL024872; NCCAP:TL0287/001-5+23-26; Sketch plan;

Settlement (TL 024872) immediately SW of Oundle Lodge on Cornbrash at 140 ft above OD. Air photographs show a group of enclosures on both sides of, and intersecting a ditched trackway running E-W. (Air photographs in NMR).


{3} Geophysical survey detected a number of linear anomalies which correlated well with previously recorded cropmarks. The trial trench evaluation confirmed these to be a series of ditched enclosures dating to the Late Iron Age.

The pottery assemblage suggests a possible origin in the 1st century BC and abandonment after the 1st century AD. Scant environmental indicators may suggest a landscape more conducive to pastoral use although the paucity of faunal and environmental evidence makes this a very tentative suggestion. However, the presence of a possible droveway, a feature generally thought to be associated with the movement of livestock, would also suggest pastoral activity. A possible roundhouse in the southern end of Enclosure B is indicative of human occupation.

{4} Archaeological observation during development identified a small number of undated ditches likely to be associated with the enclosures identified previously.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.71/Site 8 (checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<2> Foard G.; Richardson D., 1983, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1982 (Aerial Photography), p.181 Oundle (unchecked) (Notes). SNN100412.

<3> Simmonds, C., Taylor, E., Walford, J., Davey, G., 2014, An archaeological evaluation on land at Oundle Lodge Farm, Stoke Doyle Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire, March-April 2014 (Report). SNN110081.

<4> Sharman T., 2014, Archaeological observation, investigation, recording and analysis of land at Oundle Lodge Farm, Stoke Doyle, Northamptonshire, July-August 2014 (Report). SNN110082.

<5> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire I (North-East), 8980479 (Archive). SNN113295.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2025 3:49PM