SNN104578 - DIRFT East Access Road: An Archaeological Watching Brief

The excavation of an access road for the DIRFT East Hotel Site was located in an area of archaeological sensitivity adjacent to a known iron age settlement site. The settlement site was not though to encroach upon the line of the access road based upon geophysical surveys of the area. Archaeological monitoring at the site was required by Northamptonshire Heritage on behalf of the local planning authority in order that any archaeological features exposed by the construction phase would be recorded by a competent archaeologist. The excavation of the upper layers to the level of natural clay was monitored by archaeologists from RPS Clouston. The majority of the road length was free of archaeology. However at the northern end of the Access Road a number of features were identified. Hand excavation subsequently produced ceramic evidence of Iron Age date from the features. Three phases of activity were identified which comprised an earliest phase of a roundhouse and associated features. A second phase of a straight sided field or plot boundary and a latest phase of a sub-circular enclosure ditch.