SNN107491 - Iron Age Settlement and Medieval Features at Quinton House School, Upton, Northampton

Northamptonshire Archaeology carried out archaeological excavation, prior to development of a sports hall, on 0.18ha of land within a walled garden at Quinton House School, Upton, Northampton. A small group of pits or postholes contained pottery dated to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. The continuation of a pit alignment seen in previous excavations to the east was confirmed, although only a single pit lay within the site. Most of a small Iron Age enclosure, probably dating to the later middle Iron Age, was excavated. The enclosure had seen intensive use, containing a circular sub-enclosure, which may have been a roundhouse ring ditch, two small rectangular sub-enclosures and other boundary ditches and scattered postholes and pits, the latter lying mainly close to the enclosure ditch. The pottery assemblage was dominated by large storage jars. The enclosure lies to the west of an area of more extensive contemporary settlement examined in previous excavations, with the Roman town of Duston lying further to the east. A medieval ditch system and an associated hollow-way, dated to the 13th-16th centuries, may lie near the northern end of Upton deserted medieval village. A later medieval stone structure, a stone-lined pit and adjacent wall, were constructed over the filled ditches. A number of quarry pits at the western end of the site produced pottery, clay tobacco-pipes and glass bottles dating from the late 17th to 19th centuries.