Belle Baulk Towcester Northamptonshire
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BELLE BAULK TOWCESTER NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION For THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION PARTNERSHIP on behalf of BARWOOD DEVELOPMENT SECURITIES LIMITED CA PROJECT: 3133 CA REPORT: 10100 JULY 2010 BELLE BAULK TOWCESTER NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVALUATION CA PROJECT: 3133 CA REPORT: 10100 prepared by Tim Havard, Project Officer date 6 July 2010 checked by Richard Young, Project Manager date 6 July 2010 approved by Mark Collard signed date 9 July 2010 issue 01 This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology Building 11, Kemble Enterprise Park, Kemble, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BQ Tel. 01285 771022 Fax. 01285 771033 E-mail: [email protected] © Cotswold Archaeology Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation CONTENTS SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 5 The site ................................................................................................................ 5 Archaeological background.................................................................................. 6 Archaeological objectives .................................................................................... 7 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 7 2. RESULTS (FIGS 2-5) .......................................................................................... 8 Trench 2 (Figs 2-5) .............................................................................................. 8 Trench 3 (Fig. 2) .................................................................................................. 9 Trench 5 (Figs 2-3) .............................................................................................. 9 Trench 6 (Figs 2-3) .............................................................................................. 10 Trench 7 (Figs 2-3) .............................................................................................. 10 The Finds and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence ................................................... 10 3. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 11 4. CA PROJECT TEAM........................................................................................... 13 5. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 13 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS..................................................................... 14 APPENDIX B: THE FINDS............................................................................................... 17 APPENDIX C: OASIS REPORT FORM ........................................................................... 18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Trench location plan, showing archaeological features and geophysical anomalies (1: 1250) Fig. 3 Trenches 2, 5, 6 and 7; sections (1:50 and 1:20) Fig. 4 Pit 210, photograph Fig. 5 Ditch 213, photograph 3 © Cotswold Archaeology Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation SUMMARY Project Name: Belle Baulk Location: Towcester, Northamptonshire NGR: SP 6844 4884 Type: Evaluation Date: 21-24 June 2010 Location of Archive: CA offices, Kemble, Gloucestershire Site Code: BBT 10 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in June 2010 at Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire. Eight trenches were excavated. The evaluation identified two medieval ditches and a possibly associated ditch containing earlier post-medieval pottery. The two medieval ditches also contained residual Romano- British pottery. Two undated pits, one with in situ burning, a post-medieval field boundary ditch and a post-medieval stone spread were also identified. 4 © Cotswold Archaeology Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In June 2010 Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out an archaeological evaluation for The Environmental Dimension Partnership (EDP) on behalf of Barwood Development Securities Limited at Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire (centred on NGR: SP 6844 4884; Fig. 1). The evaluation was undertaken to accompany a planning application for the development of the site. 1.2 The evaluation was carried out in accordance with a detailed Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) produced by CA (2010) following consultation between EDP and Lesley-Ann Mather, County Archaeological Advisor, Northamptonshire County Council. The fieldwork also followed the Standard and Guidance for Archaeological Field Evaluation issued by the Institute for Archaeologists (IfA 2008), the Management of Archaeological Projects (English Heritage 1991) and the Management of Research Projects in the Historic Environment (MORPHE): Project Manager’s Guide (EH 2006). It was monitored by Ms Mather, including a site visit on 23 June 2010. The site 1.3 The site is located on the north-western edge of the town of Towcester (Fig. 1). The southern edge of the site is defined by a footpath to the rear of the properties on the northern frontage of Belle Baulk. At the same time it includes the course of a disused railway line to the north, which takes the form of an embankment. The river Tove lies very close to the north-east corner of the site, to the west it is bounded by the A43 and to the east by a hedge separating the site from parkland associated with Belle Baulk and the remainder of the housing estate. The site comprises a single agricultural field, traversed from north to south by a public footpath. 1.4 The underlying solid geology of the area is mapped as bands of Blisworth and Wellingborough Limestones and Stamford Sandstone and Siltstone. This is overlain by Mid Pleistocene-Diamicton Till (BGS 2010). Mixed Till deposits were encountered across the site but no solid geology was observed. 5 © Cotswold Archaeology Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation 1.5 The site is 4.8ha in area and slopes gently down to the north-east from approximately 100m AOD to 90m AOD. Archaeological background 1.6 A Desk-Based Assessment of the site was carried out by EDP in May 2010 (EDP 2010). It is not intended to repeat these findings in full. However, the significant points are summarised below. 1.7 A fieldwalking survey carried out in 1992 across the area of the site identified 22 struck flints, but their distribution does not suggest the presence of associated significant archaeological remains (NAU 1992). In the surrounding areas the evidence for prehistoric activity is also very sparse, and consists of a 3rd-century BC Iron Age farmstead located approximately 650m to the south-east (Northamptonshire HER No. 5481/0/1). 1.8 Towcester was the site of the Roman town of Lactodorum, centred approximately 430m to the east of the site and located alongside the Roman road known as Watling Street. This was one of the largest and most significant small Roman towns in Northamptonshire. Significant parts of the town core were established by the late 1st century AD, with the majority of the known settlement lying to the west of Watling Street. 1.9 Ribbon development also took place along Watling Street, resulting in the creation of a northern suburb approximately 300m to the north-east of the site, and a further suburb to the south along the Kings Sutton Roman road, now followed by the present day Brackley road, approximately 280m to the south of the site. The discovery of skeletons alongside the modern Brackley road in the early 20th century would also seem to indicate the presence of a cemetery here outside the built up area of Lactodorum. 1.10 An agricultural landscape probably lay outside the Roman town and its suburbs, suggested by the results of a metal detecting and fieldwalking survey carried out in 1992. These surveys recorded 11 Roman coins and 130 Roman potsherds, the distribution of which suggested a scatter caused by manuring, rather than the presence of an archaeological site (NAU 1992a). Following this, an evaluation was carried out to the south of the site over the Roman coin scatter. No archaeological features were 6 © Cotswold Archaeology Belle Baulk, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation identified (NAU 1992b). A further scatter of coins has been identified 590m west of the site. 1.11 A Saxon cemetery and significant occupation was identified approximately 170m to the south of the site, along the River Tove valley. This suggests that occupation may have moved away from the Roman town by the early 6th century AD. 1.12 In the 11th or early 12th century a motte and bailey castle was constructed in Towcester, and the town developed as a significant market centre. The town maintained its role as a market throughout the medieval period, and became a successful small town in the post-medieval period. Sites recorded on the Northamptonshire HER are indicative of an agricultural landscape around the medieval town, including ridge and furrow 300m to the east of the site. 1.13 Aerial photographs