SNN110549 - Banbury Lane, Kings Sutton, Northamptonshire: Archaeological excavation

Albion Archaeology carried out a c. 1.2ha excavation in May–July 2013 on behalf of CgMs Consulting Ltd, prior to residential development by Banner Homes Ltd (subsequently CALA Homes (Midlands) Ltd). This followed the discovery of Iron Age enclosures and possible roundhouses during evaluation of the site, and adds to the pattern of Iron Age settlement originally identified during salvage excavation immediately to the south-west. The earliest activity identified dates back possibly as far as the late Neolithic, with two large boundary ditches, but the earliest definitive evidence of settlement comes from a series of square and penannular early–middle Iron Age enclosures, whose boundary ditches had repeatedly been adapted or re-dug. The largest of these enclosures measured 20m square internally, and the general lack of internal features suggests that they were used for corralling livestock. Human habitation is represented by at least two roundhouses, measuring 13–14m in diameter and facing south-east. The distribution of pottery and animal bones, as well as the physical relationships between the recorded features, suggests that the focus of activity shifted gradually westwards over the course of perhaps a century or more. Several lines of post-holes, the longest running for c. 50m, are likely to be agricultural in origin, perhaps forming fence lines. Their date is unknown, but they may have been contemporary with a timber building at the opposite end of the site, which contained a stone-built hearth. The date of this is also unknown, but plant remains found in the hearth indicate at least a post-Roman date.