%C. _ I 'Ir:L-0 7 411 aa radlialiglat fi f! ii if Pde. ".1 !! U Il h 1 Hfini '? - u -./NRa- 1=1, -CL) BEDFORDSHIRE ARC' OLOGY VOLUME 24 BEDFORDSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGY formerly issued as Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal is published by the BEDFORDSHRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COUNCIL BEDFORDSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGY volume 24, 2001 Additional copies and previous volumes may be obtained from the Sales Officer, Michael Dawson, Wykes Farm, Aliens Hill, Bozeat, Northamptonshire, NN29 7LW. Regular sub- scribers can receive each new volume as it is published at an advantageous price. Please note that Bedfordshire Archaeology is not published every year; the rate of publication is dependent on the receipt of sufficient suitable contributions and fimding. The Council also publishes an occasional monograph series in conjunction with Bedfordshire County Council. Contributions should be sent to the Editor, Bedfordshire Archaeology, 6 Neale Way, Wootton, Bedfordshire, MK43 9EP (Tel. 01234 297539). Intending contributors are advised to refer to the current volume for guidance on the formatting of articles. Bedfordshire Archaeological Council: Officers 2001 Chairman Ron Fowler Secretary John Bailey Teasurer Peter Wood Editor Stephen Coleman Monograph Editor Michael Dawson Sales Officer Michael Dawson together with representatives from the archaeological societies and museums of the county: Ampthill and District Archaeological and Local History Society Bedford Archaeological and Local History Society Bedford Museum, Bedford Borough Council Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire Historic Buildings Research Group Friends of Chicksands Priory Heritage and Environment Section, Bedfordshire County Council Higham Ferrers Hundred Archaeological Society Luton and District Archaeological Society Luton Museum Service, Luton Borough Council Manshead Archaeological Society of Dunstable Potion History Society Sundon Historical Research Group Members of the Editorial Committee: Stephen Coleman, Michael Dawson, David Hall, John Hutchings, Peter Wood The Bedfordshire Archaeological Council is a registered charity (No 220987) BEDFORDSHIRE ARCILEOLOGY VOLUME 24 2001 BEDFORDSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COUNCIL Edited by Stephen Coleman ISSN 0958-191X Copyright 02001 Bedfordshire Archaeological Council and individual authors The views expressed by individual contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bedfordshire Archaeological Council. Printed by Newnorth Print Ltd., Kernpstom Bedfordshire li Contents An Iron Age and Romano-British farmstead at Norse Road, Bedford By Matt Edgeworth Harlington Roman cemetery 20 By Michael Dawson Bedford an Alfredian burh? 40 By Alan Crawley and Ian Freeman Archaeological investigations at Church End Lower School, Marston Moretaine 47 By Gary Edmondson and Sean Steadman The development of the medieval buildings adjoining the Abbey at Elstow 57 By John Bailey The late medieval origins of the "Town House" at Kempston Church End 76 By Jonathan Edis A brief introduction to the archaeology of Wrest Park, Bedfordshire 8 I By Michael Dawson Notes from Luton Archaeological Group 97 By Ren Hudspith Cover: aerial photograph of Wrest Park looking north. October 1989 Contributors to Bedfordshire Archaeology JOHN BAILEY is Secretary of the Bedfordshire set up for the county. After completing his doctoral Archaeological Council He has investigated and thesis on 16th century funerary monuments he recordedmanytimber-framedbuil dings i recently joined a firm of commercial consultants. Bedfordshire and adjacent counties. Several have He retains an interest and still lives in Bedfordshire. been published as contributions to previous volumes of theBedfordshire Archaeological Journal. GARY EDMONDSON, BA is currently employed as an Archaeological Project Officer with the ALAN CRAWLEY is an honorary member of the Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service. Gary Bedford Archaeological and Local History Society entered the archaeological profession in 1987, and and a former president. He is also a member of the since 1989 has worked on numerous projects in the Bedfordshire Archaeological Council. The Crawley . region. His main interests include human modifica- family have lived in Bedford for over 200 years so, not tion of the landscape over time and military history surprisingly, his main interest is in the archaeology and archaeology. and history of Bedford. Together with Ian Freeman he has spent many years studying and researching IAN FREEMAN first became actively interested in Bedford's past which has led them to contribute arti- local history while living in Hertfordshire where he cles to previous issues ofBedfondshire Archaeology made several contributions to theHerordshire and the now defunctBedfordshire Magazine. Archaeological ReviewandHertfordshire's Past. On moving to Bedford in 1977 he also transferred MICHAEL DAWSON, MPhil, MIFA is a graduate his interest to the town and has contributed several of University College, Cardiff. Formerly Senior articles toBedfordshire ArchaeologyandThe Archaeological Field Officer with the Bedfordshire Bedfordshire Magazine,mostly in collaboration County Archaeology Service, he undertook many with his co-author Alan Crawley. He is a former rescue projects in the county from 1987. His main president of the Bedford Archaeological and Local interest is the archaeology of Roman towns which History Society has involved him in fieldwork in Romania and Bulgaria. In 1998 he joined Samuel Rose Limited in REN HUDSPITH is a leading member of the Luton Northamptonshire to establish and manage their and District Archaeological Society and chairman archaeological consultancy. of the Manshead Archaeological Society of Dunstable with a particular interest in landscape MATT EDGEWORTH,BA,PhDstudied archaeology. For some years he has led an extensive Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of fieldwalking programme across southern Durham. He has recently been involved in British Bedfordshire which is regularly reported in the excavations on the Byrsa Hill in Carthage, as part of MansheadMagazineandSouthMidlands the UNESCO "Save Carthage" campaign. Born in Archaeology. Many previously unknown sites have Bedford, he is currently working as a supervisor been identified and others dated. with the Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service. He maintains a strong interest in local history and SEAN STEADMAN, BA is a graduate of the the archaeology of Bedford. University of Birmingham. He was formerly a ProjectOfficerwithBedfordshireCounty JONATHAN EDIS, BA, MA, PhD, IHBC, AIFA Archaeology Service and has worked as a field was formerly Historic Buildings Officer with archaeologist for the last fifteen years. His interests Bedfordshire County Council and prepared the include the archaeology of towns and Public ground for a Buildings Preservation Trust to be involvement in archaeology. An Iron Age and Romano-British Farmstead at Norse Road,Bedford MATT EDGEWORTH With contributions by Anna Slowikowski, Holly Duncan and illustrations by Cecily Marshall SUMMARY the A428, 4km to the E of the centre of Bedford (Fig Archaeological investigationsat Not-se Road, 1). The complex of cropmarks occupies the top of a Bedford, in advance of residential development, low hill (at up to 31m OD) which slopes away to the revealed a small-scale rural settlement/farmstead S, W and N. The site overlooks the valley of the dating from the middle Iron Age to the Romano- River Great Ouse, the present course of which is British period.A densely interwoven pattern of only lkm to the S, while a small tributary, Renhold enclosures, drovenays and houndaty ditches occu- Brook, runs along the W side of the field. The solid pied a low promontory overlooking the fioodplain of' geology of the site is Oxford Clay, overlaid in places the River Great Ouse. No clear focus of settlement by patches of glacial gravels. Deposits of alluvium within the complex of cropmarks could be identified; and colluvium up to 2m thick were noted in the land rather all the enclosures are indications of com- adjacent to the brook. The crest of the hill provides pounds renewed successively within the same gener- a natural spur of higher ground on the edge of the al area. Evidence suggests a primarily pastoral and flood plain, and this partly explains the suitability of mobile economy and a possible relationship with the site to Iron Age and Romano-British farmers. anothersiteknown from cropmarksnearby. The height of the hill was accentuated by a medieval Excavation of the large eastern enclosure, which headland running ENE-WSW across the middle of represents un early phase of activity, was undertak- the field. en as part of a mitigation strategy.It was truncated on its western side by a boundary ditch which prob- ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ably enclosed the Romano-British focus of settle- BACKGROUND ment to the west. On the basis of the archaeological Evidence for activity in the Neolithic and Bronze evaluation, this latter area was set aside Cis a desig- Age is plentiful in the surrounding area.Recent nated public open space. work has identified a complex ritual landscape stretching from Cople and Willington in the S. right INTRODUCTION across the river to Goldington and Howbury in the N The archaeological work at Norse Road was carried (Clark and Dawson 1995). Comprised of mortuary out in two broad, but distinct,stages by the enclosures, a cursus, henge monuments and ring Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service (BCAS). ditches, much of this landscape would have been vis- The