SNN115438 - Archaeological excavation on land off St Christopher's Drive, Oundle, Northamptonshire, March 2022-April 2022

MOLA was commissioned by Persimmon Homes to undertake a programme of archaeological mitigation on land off St. Christopher’s Drive, Oundle, Northamptonshire ahead of proposed residential development. The work aimed to determine the nature and extent of the Iron Age and potential Iron Age activity identified during previous geophysical survey (Malone 2012) and subsequent trial trench evaluation of the site. Iron Age activity was identified in the form of a farmstead consisting of an enclosure, and ring ditches, along with associated pits and postholes. Some signs of minor industrial activity were identified. A Roman burial was also excavated which contained grave goods of three brooches and toilet instruments consisting of two ear scoops and a pair of tweezers. This burial is of both local and national importance as a rare example of a transitional late Iron Age to early Roman burial practices. Modern gravel quarrying truncated much of the archaeological features at the northern and western extents of the excavation area.