SNN111291 - Archaeological excavation at Lime Avenue, Chester Farm, Irchester, Northamptonshire, November 2014-May 2015

Between November 2014 and May 2015 MOLA Northampton carried out an archaeological excavation at Lime Avenue, Chester Farm. This was required by Northamptonshire County Council as part of the improvement of the access road along Lime Avenue which formed part of the development of this site as a visitor attraction. The archaeological excavation provided a section across an extensive Roman cemetery of the 4th century, from which the remains of 75 inhumations were identified. A further 30 graves were identified, but these were left undisturbed. Other remains included a Roman landscape of discrete features, primarily boundary ditches and pits, predating the burials and a ditch which may have been recut as the cemetery boundary. A track or hollow-way post-dated the cemetery and probably belonged to the late Roman or Saxon period. The site was sealed by plough soils of the medieval agricultural landscape and later post-medieval landscaping. Remains of a post-medieval metalled limestone track/road leading from Lime Avenue to Chester Farm formed more recent activity, the route of which still endures to the present day.