SNN117059 - An Archaeological Evaluation of Land north of Brick Kiln Road, Raunds, Northamptonshire.

An archaeological evaluation was carried out by University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) on land to the north of Brick Kiln Road, Raunds, Northamptonshire, (NGR: SP 99760 73680). The work was undertaken to inform a planning application for a proposed housing development. The work took place between 19/06/2023 - 11/07/2023 19 June and 11 July 2023, and concentrated on Areas 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the proposed development plans for the area. The evaluation consisted of 36 trenches located to evaluate archaeological anomalies identified by a previous geophysical survey, and also to assess the surveyed areas where no anomalies had been identified. The results of the geophysical survey indicated that archaeological remains survived extensively across the northern half of the development area. The trenching that targeted geophysical anomalies generally confirmed their interpretation as archaeological remains and revealed a core area of settlement activity. Additionally, archaeology was also discovered in areas that contained no geophysical anomalies. In the northern part of the site, the trenching revealed dense areas of Roman settlement remains, with associated pottery finds reflecting activity from the mid 1st through to the early 2nd century. Overall, the evaluation of this area indicates an extensive but possibly short-lived settlement from the earlier Roman period Archaeological features potentially dating to the very early Roman period were also found in the trenches, suggesting that settlement was originally established at this time and continued to develop into the mid-Roman period. Sample excavation of the archaeological features in the core settlement areas showed that they were well-preserved and contained a range of artefactual and environmental evidence. On the eastern side of Area 1 a shallow irregular pit appeared to be cutting into an earlier Roman feature and produced several sherds of Anglo-Saxon pottery, indicating that settlement activity of this date is also present, although the evaluation did not indicate how widespread it might be. Away from the main core of settlement remains several smaller scale linear features crossed the southern parts of Area 3. These may reflect the presence of field boundaries dividing areas south of settlement, although their dating is currently not very clear. The project archive will be deposited with Northamptonshire Archaeological Resource Centre (NARC) under event number ENN111132.