Northamptonshire Archaeology 22

In 1985 advance works for new housing development revealed the deep ditch of a previously unknown Iron Age enclosure. Complete excavation in 1986 by the NCC Archaeological Unit was funded by HBMCE. The enclosure was situated on a spur at 97m OD with the Hunsbury hillfort 0.5km to the south on the highest point of the flattened ridge. The enclosure was square, 42m wide internally, an enclosed space of 0.18ha. The V-shaped enclosure ditch was 2.60-2.75m deep, with an entrance at the centre of the northern arm. Paired post-pits and slots inside the entrance show the presence of a timber gateway, probably set between the terminals of an internal bank. At the southern, downslope, end of the enclosure a gully set parallel to the ditch, probably provided drainage at the base of an internal bank. Within the enclosure there was a single roundhouse ring ditch in the NE corner and a curving ditch probably bounded an animal pen in the NW corner. A large four-post structure in the SW corner may have been a granary and perhaps also served as a watchtower. The site is dated to the late Iron Age, probably the 1st century BC, with a pottery assemblage broadly comparable to the material from the nearby hillfort. It is suggested that this was a satellite settlement to the hillfort, with the deep ditch suggesting that is designed for active defence. Other enclosures with similarly deep ditches are known within the county and beyond, but none are in such close association with a hillfort. Wootton Hill Farm has been adopted as the type-site for an English Heritage class of small late Iron Age enclosures with deep ditches.

The excavation of the Anglo-Cemetery at Wakerley was undertaken between 1968 and 1969 by Mr Dennis Jackson for the Department of the Environment in advance of open-cast iron working. Eighty-five graves were excavated under difficult circumstances, the finds being conserved by the Department of the Environment. It was seen that the cemetery was laid out within a fairly short space of time, although a single period (eg plague) burial has been rejected in favour of a 6th- to early 7th-century date range, covering more than one generation. A group of later 7th-century graves, excavated after the 1968/69 seasons, has been discussed, but it must be stressed that this group was separate from the main cemetery. Grave goods were a mixture of cheap items such as small-long brooches or swastika brooches, with good quality square-headed and florid cruciform. Unusual items included a drinking horn; a lozenge-shaped mount, perhaps from a harness set; a complete example of a florid cruciform brooch of Leeds’ type Vj; and a runic inscription scratched on a square-headed brooch. Most pottery was of the plain domestic type with a very few decorated vessels. All the cultural indications suggested second generation settlers using a hybrid Anglo-Saxon grave furniture. Specialist reports were submitted on the pottery and the skeletal and textile remains. From the latter came evidence for a possible coloured pattern weave. Presence of Iron Age and Roman settlement and industry nearby was seen to have had a possible influence on the choice of Wakerley as a settlement. Nevertheless, no continuity could be ascertained between Roman and Saxon settlement or industry.