Monument record 0629901000 - 800M NE OF BERRYFIELDS HOUSE

100M OF INTERCUTTING ROMANO-BRITISH PITS RECORDED DURING STRIPPING FOR GAS PIPELINE. TO EAST OF QUAINTON ROAD CROSSING, ON LOW RISE OF SE FACING SLOPE. POTTERY AND HALF A QUERN FOUND. LITTLE DONE WITH SITE APART FROM DEFINING IT. NO STONE STRUCTURES, BUT ONE AREA OF STONE SPREAD REPORTED (B1).
A single Neolithic flint flake and two sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery from the fill of a pit show low level prehistoric activity. Otherwise 344 sherds of Iron Age to Roman pottery were found (2 sherds are diagnostically Late Iron Age). In the westernmost area of the site were two shallow ditches roughly orientated north-east to south-west dated to the Late Iron Age to mid-1st century AD. Area 2 was the extensive area of intercutting pits, and there may have been some rectilinear ditches imposed on top of this area. Finds from this area were mainly 1st-2nd century, with a few 3rd century finds. The east end of the site had two ditches and a smaller linear feature, one containing undiagnostic Roman pottery. The pits were probably quarrying for marl or clay. Rubbish disposal in two pits was probably a secondary use. A significant amount of baked clay is probably kiln furniture. Dressed stones and large flint cobbles were found in a pit dating to the 2nd century. This suggests a stone structure was nearby, indicating moderately high status. Other domestci waste was found in this pit. The pottery was mainly locally made, though some non-local and imported pottery was found. Overall the site seems to have been on the periphery of a fairly high status area of domestic occupation. The numerous pits were possibly for extraction of clay for ceramic production. The ditches were presumably for drainage, though it is possible that some delimited areas of pit digging (B2).