SNN116612 - Land Off Huntingdon, Thrapston, Northamptonshire: Assessment and Updated Project Design

In 2017, East Northamptonshire District Council granted approval of reserved matters (16/01690/REM) for a housing development to the south of Huntingdon Road, Thrapston, pursuant to application number 07/02457/OUT. A late Bronze Age ringwork was known to extend onto the eastern part of the development area and an evaluation had indicated the presence of further archaeological remains. Albion Archaeology was instructed by CgMs Consulting Ltd (now RPS Ltd) to undertake archaeological investigations in advance of construction works and in line with an approved Written Scheme of Investigation. The present document is an Assessment of the results of the archaeological fieldwork and an Updated Project Design with proposals for analysis, final reporting and archiving. The first firm evidence for human activity within the development area comprised a settlement dating to the middle Bronze Age/early Iron Age (Phase 2). This comprised an unenclosed cremation cemetery and a rectangular enclosure containing further cremation burials, pits and postholes. The ringwork mentioned above was probably established during the late Bronze Age and was located c.115m to the east of the enclosure. In the early/middle Iron Age (Phase 3) an activity focus comprising quarry pits, water pits and a pond was established in the same area as the middle Bronze Age/early Iron Age settlement. The presence of early/middle Iron Age pottery within the ditch of the ringwork suggests that it was still visible at this time. Late Iron Age/early Roman (Phase 4) activity was represented by an enclosure system and trackway. Contemporary features within the interior of the ringwork indicate that the monument was still in use, even though its ditch had silted up by this stage. At least nine post-built structures were identified. They appeared to respect the alignment of the Phase 4 boundaries but the recovered dating evidence was ambiguous. For the purposes of this assessment these post-built structures were assigned to Phase 5 to enable each specialist to discuss any dating evidence their data-sets might provide. There is now good evidence, including four radiocarbon determinations, to suggest that these structures are early Saxon in date. They are, therefore, considered to be contemporary with the three pits/sunken-featured buildings assigned to Phase 6. The overall early Saxon settlement would have extended over 0.8ha and utilised the pre-existing boundaries. Evidence was also found for the arrangement of medieval fields (Phase 6) and for extensive quarrying during the post-medieval period (Phase 7) especially within the eastern part of the excavation area. The investigated remains and the finds recovered from them have the potential to contribute to a number of local and regional research themes. These relate to the evolution of the landscape through time and the nature of activity on the periphery of settlements. In particular, there is potential to contribute to regional themes relating to the Bronze Age/early Iron Age, late Iron Age/early Roman and early Saxon periods. On this basis, and in accordance with the Written Scheme of Investigation, a programme of analysis is proposed, resulting in a final report that will be published as an Albion Monograph.Upon completion of the analysis and final report, the project archive will be accessioned with Northamptonshire Archaeological Archives (accession number ENN108629).