Locations of Roman & Anglo-Saxon Artefacts
Below is a location chart and tables giving find spots for artefacts found in Duston between 1765 and 1965, held in various museums and collections. The chart is representational and similar to the London Underground map. It is based on a 10-year study of all available records, collated with iron ore quarrying records, advice from local residents and landscape examination.
Note: Museums and public collections holding material from Duston are invited to submit publicity material to this website.
Location Chart & Identification Table
|
Period |
Location |
Explanation |
Find Spot OS Ref. |
|
1765 to 1845 |
Position A |
Turnpike construction |
SP 733 608 |
|
1846 to 1859 |
Boxes 1 and 2 |
Railway marshalling yard for iron ore extraction |
SP 732 607 |
|
1860 to 1880 |
Box 3 |
Romano-British cemetery quarried for iron ore |
SP 732 608 |
|
1880 to 1900 |
Box 5 |
Later iron ore quarry, unlikely to feature |
SP 725 605 |
|
1900 to 1909 |
Boxes 6 and 7 |
Anglo Saxon cemetery surrounding Romano-British Mausoleum quarried for iron ore |
SP 727 604 |
Location of Surface Finds
|
Post 1919 |
Gardens fronting Weedon Road east of position A |
Spread of Turnpike material eastwards |
SP 733 608 |
|
Post 1919 |
Box 3 and north of Weedon Road generally |
Allotments. Distribution and levelling of quarried material |
SP 732 608 |
|
Post 1919 |
Box 7 and south of Weedon Road generally |
Allotments. Ironstone, railway embankment, quarry material spread |
SP 730 605 |
|
Post 1919 |
Gardens in Old Duston village |
Casual disposal of quarrymen's' finds |
SP 732 604 |
Stratified Find Spot
|
1955 |
S.E. corner of box 1 |
Beneath aero-controls factory |
SP 734 607 |
Absence of Any Evidence or Later Donated Collections
|
Unknown |
Unknown |
Roman artefact |
SP 732 604 |
|
Unknown |
Unknown |
Anglo-Saxon artefact |
SP 727604 |
Identification by Donor
|
Before 1860 |
Lucas |
SP 732 604 |
|
Before 1900 |
Banton, Briggs, Dryden, Fletcher, Jewitt, Murray, Whelan |
SP 732 608 |
|
Post 1900, pre 1919 |
T.G. George, C.A. Markham |
SP 727 604 |
Additional Background
All known buildings come from south of a line A to G (Weedon Road) principally in boxes 2,6 and 7, but may include 8, an area never quarried. Dr John Williams carried out a dig (1970’s) close to point E in box 2, revealing a ditch, buildings and a 7 metre wide N/S road, observing “similar buildings were noted further south.”
Springs are known at points B and L (and off site), wells are recorded in boxes 3 and 6 (and off site) (n.b. Samuel Sharp’s “wells” are, from a contents and constructions review, ritual pit shafts, within box 3. The Romano-British cemetery included inhumations, ritual pit shafts, cremations and possibly barrows.) H-J-K represents a leat from Duston a distance of 700 metres away from 88 metres above sea level to 78 metres, giving a fall of 1 in 70. Flowing to J, it was reversed and piped back to K to allow quarrying to continue. It continues to flow, but very much reduced.
The arrows within the boxes show anti-clockwise method of quarrying.
Line D-C represents part of the old medieval road, Northampton to Upton, now part of the Nene Valley Way footpath, Sixfields to Abbey Street, Northampton.
Without exception, prior to 1970, all finds can be traced back to the Duston iron ore quarries, even those turning up in St Luke’s Churchyard, in front of the Abbey site, Weedon Road, or further south on the railway embankment, due to the movement of soil in engineering projects at this period. No other excavations in Duston are known to have produced finds of this nature.
The Collectors
The Lords of the Manor, all inter-connected by marriage, Cowper, Kerr, Melbourne, Palmerston, may complicate the dating of finds by donating collections later, but general find spot locations are still safe to use.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to local historian Dave Blackburn for compiling this material and donating it to the Duston Directory.