LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Northamptonshire 1881/1 (MNN7844)
NMR: None (None)
SM: None
NGR: SP 99743 78406
X: 499690 Y: 278470 (OSGB36)
Within the SE area of Thrapston on a low, gentle hill slope overlooking the Nene Valley to the W. Now nearly completely built over but known partially from aerial photographs and confirmed by evaluation excavation (Jackson 1996; Hull 2001). Partially indicated as a short length of earthwork on the 1st Ed OS 6" map (1884). Univallate enclosing 1.4ha, excavation shows a V-shaped ditch 3.4m-4.1m wide and 1.5m-1.9m wide, a band of gravel 6m-7m wide inside the ditch could represent the rampart together with an internal revetment? slot and postholes. Suggestion of gang working for the ditch represented by special deposits. 63 pits in the interior containing pottery and other material culture. Two C14 dates from ditch fill suggest late Bronze Age/early Iron Age construction, no middle Iron Age but re-use in the late Iron Age period, some Romano-British pottery. This has been interpreted as a late Bronze Age Ringwork but may be an early hillfort with late Iron Age re-use.
Citizen Science: ✓
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -59705 Y: 6871891 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -0.536337942929296 Latitude: 52.3951473782493 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Northamptonshire
Historic County: Northamptonshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Thrapston
None
| Extant | ✗ |
| Cropmark | ✓ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✓ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✓ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
On a low, gentle hill slope overlooking the Nene Valley to the W.
| Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✓ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✓ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: View over Nene valley
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✓ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 55.0m
N/A
2 C14 dates from bone and antler within ditch fill, 910-760, 810-750 cal BC. Pottery suggests two phases of activity, LBA and LIA. Meso-EBA flints. Romano-British pottery.
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✓ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | None |
| C14: | None |
On1st Ed OS 6" map (1884), evaluation trenches in 1991 (Jackson 1996), excavation by TVAS 1997 (Hull 2001).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1884): | 1st Ed OS 6" map |
| Excavation (1991): | None |
| Excavation (1997): | None |
Excavation revealed 63 pits of LBA/EIA and LIA, plus postholes. Pits and enclosure ditch contained pottery, animal bones, a worked bone pin and an antler pick.
River Nene to the W.
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Pits | ✓ |
| Postholes | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
Bone pin, antler pick.
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✓ |
| Animal Bones | ✓ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
No evidence of an entrance
| None: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Univallate, excavation shows a V-shaped ditch 3.4m-4.1m wide and 1.5m-1.9m wide, a band of gravel 6m-7m wide inside ditch could represent the rampart together with internal revetment? slot and postholes. Suggestion of gang working for the ditch represented by special deposits.
| Area 1: | 1.4ha. |
| Total: | 1.4ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | None |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✓ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✓ | None |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Jackson, D. 1996. An archaeological evaluation on land off Huntingdon Road, Thrapston, Northants. Unpublished report for Northamptonshire County Council.
Hull, G. 2001. A late Bronze Age ringwork, pits and later features at Thrapston, Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire Archaeol, 29, 73-91.
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1