Find Spot record 0680800000 - 122.9ha field ESE of Manor Farm (Whittlewood Project LD1)

1704 sherds of Romano-British, medieval and post-medieval pottery were recovered, and were dominated by the locally produced Potterspury pottery. The dark colour of the field suggests prolonged and heavy manuring, and the pottery evidence suggests that the village was formed between 725-1100 AD (1000 AD?). A small community identified by the cluster of late Saxon pottery appears to have settled approximately 100m west of the later church and to the south of the dirt track (further evidence of this early settlement may be made under the area of field to the north of the track which was not investigated). The village would appear to have reached its zenith in the 13-14th centuries when a reorganisation of the settlement occurred and a second axis or street was developed to the south. Houses appears to have fronted the Buckingham-Towcester road and the clusters of limestone seen could be interpreted as ploughed out remains. The Romano-British pottery was found in no discernable pattern, but suggests that the field was ploughland between 50-450 AD (B1).
The field was formely the site of the Manor House and contains large quantities of brick and tile across the whole site. The majority of the pottery was recoverd from patches of dark humic soil, rather than from the obvious scatters of limestone, probably representing house platforms. It was also possible to ifdentify areas where only medieval material was found and other areas where the broad range of pottery finds continued. Hence it may be possible with further analysis to identify which areas where abandoned and which continued to be used (B2).