Priors Hall, Corby: Discovering the Roman roots of a new housing development
Oxford Archaeology carried out mitigation works in advance of the development of phase 3 of the development of Prior’s Hall Corby. The work was commissioned by master developer Urban&Civic.
So far this has involved excavation (in 2019) of an area just under 1ha in size, followed in 2021 by the excavation of five further areas totalling approximately 4.5ha.
The project identified significant Iron Age and Roman archaeology, which was fully excavated and recorded, thus mitigating any impact the development would have on it. An enclosed later Iron Age settlement was excavated. This appeared to have been closed down in the 1st century AD, when a large road was built through the development area. In the 1st or 2nd century AD a temple/mausoleum was also constructed. This temple/mausoleum was later converted into a tile kiln and a second tile kiln, a lime kiln and six pottery kilns were constructed.
Overall the project revealed highly significant Roman archaeology, which largely had not been predicted by the evaluation. However, this was dealt with quickly, efficiently and to a very high standard, resulting in the project wining the “Rescue Project of the Year” award at the Current Archaeology awards in 2022.
