SNN2964 - Excavations in Chalk Lane, Northampton

The excavation was undertaken between 1975 and 1978 by the Northampton Development Corporation. The site lay mainly along the line of the levelled castle inner bailey bank, the pre-castle levels beneath formed the primary objective of the excavation. A subsoil layer produced worked flints of Mesolithic and Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date, with some coming from small pits or gullies. The early/middle Saxon sequence comprised: a general soil level and two separate sunken-featured buildings and some possible post-built structures. The late Saxon sequence comprised three phases: a substantial post-built structure with a cellar, a nearby sunken-featured building and other post-built structures and pits; a general soil build-up over much of the site; a smaller post-built structure, replacing the earlier building, with pits to the north and a yard to the west, with an ironpanned surface, and possible cultivated to the south. Industrial activity in the later phases of pre-Conquest use was evidenced by ferrous slag and hearth lining showing that iron smithing had been carried out nearby, along with silver and probably copper alloy working. Three St Edmund memorial coins were found, one of which came from the floor of the cellared structure, suggesting that this building belonged to the period of the Danish occupation in the later 9th to early 10th century, prior to its capture by Edward the Elder in 917.