Northampton North-West Relief Road

Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by WSP to undertake a trial trench
evaluation along the proposed route of the north-west relief road on the
outskirts of Northampton. The work was undertaken to inform the planning
authority in advance of the submission of a planning application.
The evaluation fieldwork was completed between May and July 2019 and
comprised 123 trenches ranging from 30m by 1.60m to 50m by 2.20m.
The evaluation revealed four distinct areas of significant archaeological
remains. These comprised: early prehistoric activity located at the edge of the
floodplain in Trenches 36-41; middle-late Iron Age settlement focused around,
but not limited to, Trenches 70-73; Roman activity peripheral to a settlement
in Trench 96 and late Roman activity, including evidence for crop processing
and structures, in Trenches 112-114 and 116. In addition, isolated features
were encountered elsewhere within the evaluation, although these were
invariably historic or failed to produce any artefactual evidence.
Excavation across the floodplain also revealed significant depths of alluvial
deposits and sediments relating to former watercourses. Well-preserved
waterlogged remains were recovered from the palaeochannel deposits
indicating a slow-moving watercourse or possibly areas of standing water.
Radiocarbon dates were obtained from material in the base of the channels at
two locations providing ranges from 3365-3104 cal BC to cal AD 386-538.