In 2014, archaeologists from ULAS investigated a 7 hectare area of agricultural land situated between the A508 and Pitsford Reservoir, just south of Brixworth in Northamptonshire. The evaluation was undertaken as part of an archaeological impact assessment in advance of proposed residential development. Work targeted previously identified geophysical anomalies and revealed an array of archaeological…
Tag: Iron Age
Archaeologists return to Pineham, Northamptonshire
In 2014, ULAS archaeologists returned to Pineham in Northamptonshire to carry out a second season of excavation. Now, with two seasons of fieldwork completed, the large-scale excavation has investigated a total of 12 hectares of land in advance of major residential development for Taylor Wimpey (East Midlands). The excavations have focused on two fields, targeting…
FIND SPOTLIGHT: Britain’s oldest coin?
This Roman Republican silver denarii was found in the Hallaton treasure hoard. It was struck in Rome before the Roman general Scipio defeated Hannibal and could have been made as far back as 211 BC, which would make it one of the oldest coins found in Britain. The coin depicts the goddess Roma on one…
Iron Age treasure found in Northamptonshire
A 2012 ULAS project near Weston by Welland in Northamptonshire has uncovered a small cache of Iron Age silver coins. The site is located on a prominent hilltop, with spectacular views over the surrounding countryside, and lies within a rich Iron Age and Roman landscape. Significant sites nearby include the Gartree Road, which runs south-east out of Leicester…
Treasures in the Kitchen: Archaeological investigation of Reynard’s Kitchen, Dovedale, Derbyshire
Working with the National Trust and the Defence Archaeology Group’s Operation Nightingale, archaeologists from ULAS have recently undertaken an archaeological excavation at Reynard’s Kitchen, Dovedale, Derbyshire. The programme of controlled excavation work took place within a small cave set into the Dovedale gorge walls following the chance find of four Iron Age and Roman Republican…
Rare decorated Iron Age chariot fittings found at Burrough Hill hillfort
University of Leicester archaeologists have made a ‘once-in-a-career’ discovery of the decorated bronze remains of an Iron Age chariot. A team from ULAS and the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History has unearthed a hoard of rare bronze fittings from a 2nd or 3rd century BC chariot which appears to have been buried as…
Iron Age and Roman occupation unearthed at the new Stamford AFC Stadium
Last year, ULAS undertook an archaeological excavation at the proposed new Stamford AFC stadium at Ryhall Road, north of Stamford, Lincolnshire. The work was commissioned by the Burghley House Preservation Trust with R G Carter as the main site contractor. Features discovered date to the late Iron Age and early Roman period. Two large boundary…
Iron Age settlement excavated near Lutterworth
During the autumn of 2013 ULAS carried out an archaeological excavation on land at Leaders Farm, on the south-western edge of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, for Bellway Homes (East Midlands) Ltd. prior to construction of a new residential development to be known as Whittle Fields. An evaluation carried out by ULAS in 2012 identified two areas containing…
Burrough Hill 2014
After five years, this summer saw the final season of excavations at Burrough Hill. John Thomas reports: this year, the Project aimed to tie up a few niggling questions that have developed over the years and have another look at the external settlement, previously looked at in 2011. Trench 10 was located in the centre…
Icknield Way and Roman settlement excavated at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
Over the summer, a team of archaeologists from ULAS led by Mathew Morris and Roger Kipling have been excavating a nine-acre site in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire. Commissioned by developers Taylor Wimpey, the work is being carried out before work begins on a new housing development. So far, the excavation has found evidence of Iron Age…
Roman ‘smoke-house’ found at Pineham, Northamptonshire
From April to November 2013 one of the largest (7.5ha) single-phase ULAS excavations took place at Pineham, Northamptonshire. Directed by James Harvey and Dr Gavin Speed the site is located in the Nene Valley, 4km south-west of Northampton. The excavation revealed evidence for human activity from Upper Palaeolithic artefacts through to post-medieval ploughing, with the…
Iron Age activity found near Broughton Astley
Roger Kipling has recently completed a 71 trench evaluation of two areas to the east and west of Broughton Way at Broughton Astley, Leicestershire. As anticipated by a previously undertaken geophysical survey, a small ditched enclosure of Iron Age date was located in the central eastern area. Its fourth (eastern) side was absent, likely due…
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