SNN111299 - Test Pit Results from Wicken (formerly Wyke Hamon and Wyke Dyve), Northamptonshire, June-July 2004

During June and July 2004, 34 test pits measuring 1 x 1 m, and excavated to natural, were opened in and around Wicken (formerly Wyke Hamon and Wyke Dyve), Northamptonshire. This more than doubled the number of test pits previously excavated in the village in 2003, producing what in now considered to be a statistically significant sample. Important gaps do still remain in the distribution of these test pits across the village, so whilst a ‘total’ history of the origins and development of the two villages is presented here, there is the possibility that further investigation will reveal new insights which might force a revision of the current picture. Despite these lacunae, the recovery of quantities of pottery dating from the Iron Age (600BC-43AD) through to the present day, together with the identification of a number of historic features including walls and floors, provides the basis on which a reconstruction of the changing morphology of the two villages can be made. In addition to this work, the open area excavation of features previously identified through test pitting in 2003 at Glebe Cottage, Leckhampstead Road, provides additional contextual evidence for an important stage in the development of Wyke Hamon. The results from this excavation will be reported separately, but their implications for our understanding of the village as a whole are included here in the conclusion. Earthwork surveys and geophysical surveys were also carried out in The Warren, Wyke Dyve, and in The Pasture opposite Home Farm, Wyke Hamon. In both areas the results of these surveys were investigated through test pitting.