SNN108067 - Land off Stratford Road, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire: Archaeological evaluation

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotwold Archaeology in February 2010 on land off Stratford Road, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire. Nine trenches were excavated. The evaluation recorded a small number of archaeological features, comprising ditches, pits, furrows and a spread of stones. A possible ring gully and a nearby ditch (Trench 9 in the east of the site) both contained Roman pottery. Roman pottery was also recovered from a ditch in Trench 4. An undated ditch in Trench 7 contained some animal bone. A wide and shallow feature, not fully exposed in Trench 8, contained a sherd of probable earlier Anglo-Saxon pottery. A large pit, one of three in Trench 3, contained post-medieval matter, as did a ditch 40m to the north, and furrows of presumed post-medieval date were present in several trenches, principally to the east of the site. A ditch in Trench 5 contained probably modern glass. Two undated parallel ditches were recorded in Trench 1. Between them were possible wheel ruts and in the west facing section of the trench was a spread of stones. Together these could represent a previously postulated Roman Road. Anomalies detected by an earlier geophysical survey in the area of Trench 2 proved to be of natural, probably fluvial, origin.