SNN116959 - UPTON MEDIEVAL VILLAGE & C17 GARDEN EARTHWORKS, UPTON, NORTHAMPTON (NGR 471858, 260010 to NGR 471839, 259988): ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Archaeological monitoring, investigation and recording was carried out by Souterrain during excavation of a foul drainage connection trench within the Scheduled Monument earthwork site at Upton, Northampton, known as ‘Upton Medieval Village and C17 Garden Earthworks’ (SM NN 165).The trench ran from Park Barns, Upton, to an existing Anglian Water Authority sewer, a distance of c.31m. Scheduled Monument Consent permitted a pipe-trench route that would cause minimal visual affect to upstanding earthworks. A condition of the Consent was for a qualified archaeologist to monitor works and implement an appropriate scheme of mitigation with regard to buried archaeological remains. It was perceived that the trench would pass through a medieval croft. The trench encountered an extensive layer of pebbly soil, below the turf and topsoil that was not dissimilar to plough-disturbed ground, although the narrow confines of the trench (c.0.6m) denied further clarification. Other than this, there were no identifiable features or deposits of archaeological significance, and no artefacts. It was therefore not possible gain an insight to historic land-use of the site. The pipe-trench caused minimal impact to below-ground archaeology. The report provides an illustrated synopsis of the archaeological context of the investigation and its results