Northamptonshire Archaeology 28

Excavation on land at The Elms, High Street, Brackley found activity dating from the 12th century to the second half of the 14th century. The first evidence of land use was several pits dating probably between AD1150-1250. These are presumed to lie within plots to the rear of domestic buildings fronting onto the High Street. In the mid to late 13th century the back plot was developed as a stone built "L"-shaped building, probably a detached bake-house and kitchen complex with possible storage rooms; a metalled track ran from the building towards the street. Later a malt oven was inserted into the south-west room. The malthouse/bakehouse was demolished probably in the second half of the Bath century and its walls were partly robbed and quarried for stone. The abandonment of the site seems to have mirrored the economic collapse of Brackley in this period and the resultant contraction in the town's size. Afterwards the site was never reoccupied

This report presents the data from excavations carried out ahead of and during redevelopment of an area around Woolmonger Street between 1994 and 1997. The fieldwork and the current report were funded by Wimpey Commercial Property Ltd, in discharge of a section 106 planning agreement. The extensive fieldwork was carried out following a programme of desk-based assessment and on-site evaluation, which gave rise to a tripartite arrangement of some pre-emptive archaeological record some intensive watching-brief recording and a strategy for partial preservation in-situ. The present report draws upon all of the evidence and has taken account of published and unpublished data from previous excavations on the site since 1981 which offer information on areas and levels now preserved below the latest redevelopment. The data produced evidence for occupation from the early-middle Saxon period through the late Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods. There is documentary evidence to corroborate some of the excavation results and still more to challenge future work in the area. Evidence has been found for Saxon and medieval town planning, aspiration to wealth and status, trade and industry, social organisation in the home, and change and decay within the wider picture of the history of Northampton, the area of the Danelaw and the midlands.