Bedfordshire Archaeology Volume 17 1986

A review of the Bedfordshire Archaeological Council's first 25 years

In 1983 a small excavation was undertaken of a double ring ditch at Radwell, Felmersham. The limited scope of the excavations and the poor preservation of the site meant that the results were inconclusive.

This report concentrates on the excavation of Iron Age and Roman enclosures and Iron Age hut circles at Redlands gravel pit in Willington.

This reports on three excavations in Bedford, at the Liberal Club on Midland Road, at Bennett's Works on the edge of Bedford Museum, and at Duck Mill Lane. Evidence was found at the Liberal Club for iron-working fuelled by woodland clearance in the later 9th century, followed by metalworking in the late Saxon and Saxo-Norman periods. The excavation did not locate the Saffron Ditch, although it is possible that a natural predecessor to it was encountered. Two trenches at Bennett's Works produced six distinct periods of occupation delineated by a turf line and a cultivation level. No major structures of Bedford Castle were seen, but indications of substantial Early-Middle Saxon to Saxo-Norman activity were identified. Minor ground disturbance connected with the construction of a car park at Duck Mill Lane provided the opportunity to examine a site on the relatively unexplored east side of St Mary's Street, with material from a probable cesspit giving valuable insight into environmental conditions in the 11th to 13th centuries.

An integrated survey of the late-seventeenth-century timber-framed house at Mavourn Farm, Bolnhurst, placed off-centre on an earlier moated site has' appended a summary of the tenurial history from 1500 to 1944. There was an earlier house on the site known to have been standing in 1671 but the present house does not incorporate any of its predecessor.

Recent renovation work at this house and its adjoining barn has enabled its structure to be studied. It is of post-medieval type, probably of the sixteenth- or early seventeenth century, and is of lobby-entrance plan. There is some indication of alteration to the flooring, whilst later eighteenth- or nineteenth-century revamping resulted in a cottage of typical Bedfordshire appearance.