SNN111544 - Archaeological desk-based heritage assessment and geophysical survey of land at Pury End Quarry, Towcester, Northamptonshire, June 2018

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) conducted an archaeological desk-based heritage assessment and geophysical survey of land at Pury End Quarry, Towcester, Northamptonshire. The site lies to the north of Pury End, adjacent to Pury End Quarry. There are two Grade II Listed Buildings, Kirby Farmhouse and 1, Scriveners Lane to the south of the site within the 700m Historic Envionment Record search radius. There are no further Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments, Registered Battlefields or Registered Parks and Gardens in the vicinity. A limited number of residual finds dating to the broader prehistoric period have been found to the south and north of the site. A complex settlement and associated field system dating to the late Iron Age and Roman periods lies to the north, adjacent to the south side of the A5 which was a significant trunk road during the Roman period. A possible further settlement of the period lies in the field adjacent to the east of the proposed quarry extension and an enclosure has been identified on the northern boundary of the site through geophysical survey. A large number of coins and other artefacts dating to the Roman period have been discovered close to the east of the site with building remains, suggesting a further settlement lies in the immediate vicinity and a further possible building lies to the west. Early Christian graves have also been discovered in the field to the east of the site. Ridge and furrow has been identified throughout the site and within the fields to the east and south-east and a number of medieval finds have been discovered in fields nearby. Cartographic evidence and LIDAR data suggests that the eastern half of the site and the fields adjacent to the north were quarried during the post-medieval period.