Monument record 0933100000 - FORMER SCHOOL SITE, WING

Following initial evaluation, excavation carried out by Northants Archaeology in May and June 1999, was limited to the footprint of proposed new dwellings (30m x 20m). A building with tile hearth or oven and other occupation features including pits, postholes and a well encroached into the south east corner of the Saxon and early Medieval cemetery [CASS 01090] in the 13th century. The building was roughly rectangular, 4.8m long and 2.8m wide, aligned NW-SE and scooped into the underlying natural to a depth of 0.25m, with a small clay and pitched tile hearth at the southern end, measuring 0.9m X 0.95m. The building hollow was filled with a dense layer of ash and charcoal and the underlying natural had been scorched to a red-orange colour, suggesting that the building had burnt down. 5 large rubbish pits and 2 smaller pits or large postholes contained finds suggesting that they were broadly contemporary with the building. The well was 0.9m in diameter, 2.75m deep, lined with large limestone blocks and the fills contained pottery indicating a 13th century date. The cemetery was finally abandoned in the 13th century and the site given over to secular use but the excavation area had gone out of use completely by the early 14th century (B1,B4).
Ash and charcoal deposits within the building may have accumulated during the lifetime of the building, rather from a single event. Building reinterpreted as a possible detached kitchen or specialist ancillary drying/smoke house ancillary to a substantial domestic building nearby (B5).