SNN110233 - An Iron Age and Roman settlement at Mawsley New Village, Great Cransley, Kettering

University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) carried out an archaeological excavation at Housing Areas 6C/6D, Mawsley New Village, west of Kettering, prior to residential development. The excavations recorded a long sequence of activity from the early Iron Age, through the Roman period and into the early Anglo-Saxon period. The earliest features consisted of a short length of pit alignment that probably dates to the early Iron Age. Subsequent open settlement consisted of a single roundhouse located on a promontory, affording clear views of the surrounding landscape. In the late Iron Age (1st century BC) a farmstead was established, consisting of paired enclosures. The farmstead was modified and occupied continuously until the mid-2nd century AD, with a succession from timber roundhouse construction to a stone-founded roundhouse. The material culture indicated that the farmstead was modest in status, with an emphasis towards pastoralism during the Roman period. The enclosure was infilled during the later 2nd century, and the upper fill contained a special 'closure' deposit that incorporated later 2nd-century jewellery and weaponry, including a silver wheel-shaped clasp from a necklace, paralleled in the Snettisham hoard, alongside iron weapons. The excavated evidence suggested a shift in settlement, with new ditch systems laid out, including a trackway that crossed the previous settlement. Sparse finds from the later Roman period suggest that settlement may have continued in close proximity until the 4th century AD. An early Anglo-Saxon prone burial was located near to the stone roundhouse. The burial appeared to be aligned to the later ditch system, suggesting the deliberate re-use of the Roman site for burial, a widely reported mortuary practice from this period.