SNN110075 - Archaeological excavation on land at Polwell Lane, Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire, August to December 2012: Assessment report and Updated Project Design

Archaeological excavation was undertaken by MOLA (formerly operating as Northamptonshire Archaeology) on land at Polwell Lane, Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire, between 2012 and December 2012. The works were undertaken on behalf of Phoenix Consulting for Redrow Homes. Archaeology dating from the middle Iron Age to the present day, with earlier less tangible elements including Neolithic flint and a middle Bronze Age pit, were recorded. The middle Iron Age settlement, comprising thirteen ring ditches and other features, was initially unenclosed; later a large ditch enclosure defined its extent. The settlement was self-contained with a number of ancillary enclosures positioned around its core. Unusually for Northamptonshire, the settlement also contained over 300 pits, some of which were likely to have been used for storage. The sheep-based agricultural economy of the middle Iron Age was replaced in the late Iron Age by a cattle dominated one. The large pottery assemblage indicates that use of the settlement spanned the 2nd-1st centuries BC, with a probable continuation into the early 1st century AD. By the early 1st century AD settlement had shifted away, probably to the south where rescue excavations in the 1960s recorded Iron Age and Roman pits. The area was given over to a network of outfield paddocks and enclosures with associated quarry pits, wells and a kiln. Later occupation of the site occurred during the early Anglo-Saxon period (5th to 6th century AD) with four sunken featured buildings. The late Saxon to medieval settlement core is thought to have been centred to the north-east of the site, at the manor and St Botolph's Church. From this period the site was farmland, ridge and furrow was recorded in the geophysical survey and traces furrows were also found during excavation