Lying in the heart of the Nene Valley at Higham Ferrers in
Northamptonshire, was a substantial Roman roadside settlement, excavated
in part by Oxford Archaeology during 2002-3. Established along the
eastern side of a road in the early 2nd century AD with an array of
circular stone buildings, it underwent a significant transformation
around 100 years later. A series of plots containing rectangular stone
buildings was laid out on one side of the road, whilst on the other side
was a monumental shrine complex containing hundreds of votive offerings.
Although the shrine fell into disuse in the later 3rd century, the
settlement continued to expand along the road until it too was abandoned
during the latter half of the 4th century. No doubt the shrine played an
active role in the economic lives of the inhabitants, but the evidence
indicates an overwhelming agricultural economy - a community of native
farming families with horticultural plots, small paddocks, nearby arable
fields, and hay meadows on the Nene floodplain. This volume presents the
results of archaeological investigations of this Roman settlement, along
with other excavated prehistoric sites in the local area, including
Mesolithic activity, a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age ring ditch and a
middle Iron Age settlement.