SNN104941 - Excavation of a Roman Farmstead on land west of Glapthorn Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire 1999-2001

An archaeological excavation and subsequent watching brief was undertaken on c. 0.8 ha of land to the rear of the George Inn, Glapthorn Road, Oundle. A few dispersed pits are dated to the late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. A roundhouse ring ditch marks the origin of the Late Iron Age/ Early Roman settlement of the mid 1st century AD. Th main period of activity occurred between the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. By the early 2nd century AD a system of ditched enclsures, including an east-west trackway, had been created and through to the 4th century AD these underwent a complex sequence of subdivision and modification. In the earlier phases there is no evident domestic focus, but this may have lain in an adjacent area to the west. By the mid 3rd century a walled rectillinear enclosure or compound enclosed this western area, indicating that it was of substantial status. The excavated part contained a series of parallel fence lines and other domestic activity, including a stone-lined well, but the principal houses seem to have lain beyind the excavateda area. The domestic compound was abutted to the east by two ditched enclosures. A small Anglo-Saxon cemetery, containing inhumation burials, occupied part of the former Roman enclosure. Radiocarbon dating and the artefact assemblages date the cemetery to between the mid 6th and mid 7th centuries AD. Later land-use comprises furrows of the medieval of post-medieval field system, and a series of recent land drains.