MOLA (formerly Northamptonshire Archaeology), has undertaken
intermittent archaeological work within Bozeat Quarry over a twenty-year
period from 1995-2016 covering an area of 59ha. The earliest
archaeological features lay in the extreme northern area where a Bronze
Age to Iron Age cremation burial was possibly contemporary with an
adjacent late Bronze Age/early Iron Age pit alignment. In the middle to
late Iron Age a settlement was established at the southern part of the
site over a c170m by 150m area. It was a well organised farmstead,
mostly open in plan with two roundhouses, routeway, enclosures, boundary
ditches and pits. In the early 1st century AD, cAD 30, two separate
settlements lay c0.5km apart. The former southern Iron Age farmstead had
perhaps shifted location c150m to the north-west and a there was new
farmstead to the north. Both settlements were located on a west facing
slope of a valley side and were sited on sands and gravels at between
64m and 66m aOD. The Northern Settlement was only occupied for about 150
years and was involved in pastoral farming, but local coarseware pottery
production was of some importance with a group of 12 pottery kilns dated
to the middle to late 1st century AD. This is seemingly the largest
number of pottery kilns from a single settlement of this period yet
found in the regionally important Upper Nene Valley pottery producing
area. The Southern Settlement was larger and continued to the end of the
Roman period. In this area there was a notable scatter of 12 Iron Age
and 1st century AD Roman coins as well as 24 contemporary brooches found
over an area measuring c170m by c130m. This collection of finds may
suggest the presence of a shrine or temple located in the area. It is
perhaps significant that in 1964 directly to the west of the excavation,
a middle Roman round stone building was found, perhaps an associated
shrine. Within the excavation area in the latest Iron Age to early Roman
period there was a possible roundhouse, a large oval enclosure and a
field system. The latter largely related to pastoral farming including
areas where paddocks were linked to routeways suggesting significant
separation of livestock had occurred. Four cremation burials, including
one deposited in a box, and an inhumation lay in three locations.
Pastoral farming was a significant activity throughout the Roman period
with enclosures, paddocks and linked routeways uncovered. In the late
2nd to 4th century there were two stone buildings and a stone malt oven
at the extreme western extent of the site, within 50m to the east of the
probably contemporary shrine recorded in 1964. There was minor evidence
of early to middle Saxon occupation within the area of the former middle
to late Iron Age settlement. No structures were found, although a few
pits may date to this period and mark short stay visits. A small
cemetery of five individuals respected the former Roman field system and
probably dated to the late 6th to 7th centuries. The burials included a
decapitation and a burial with a knife and a buckle. The site was then
not re-occupied and became part of the fields of Bozeat medieval and
post-medieval settlements.
