SNN111729 - A Late Iron Age trackway and settlement south of Towcester Road, Old Stratford

MOLA carried out an open area excavation on land south of Towcester Road, Old Stratford. A Late Iron Age complex, dating to the 1st century BC to early 1st century AD, comprised a length of trackway flanked by minor domestic settlement. The trackway was later partially blocked, perhaps the creation of a stock control feature, with a new domestic focus immediately adjacent. The trackway eventually fell out of use, although some of the existing boundaries were respected by new boundary ditches, perhaps denoting a shift from pastoral to arable farming. Domestic activity ceased in the early to mid-1st century AD, prior to the arrival of Roman pottery forms. It is suggested that the trackway and the associated domestic settlement was part of a larger late Iron Age estate. The tight dating is based on a relatively large assemblage of diagnostic late Iron Age pottery. A few crucible fragments indicate that bronze casting was also practised.