IRCHESTER
Northamptonshire, England.
A
settlement in the middle valley of the Nene, 16 km NE
of Northampton, continuously occupied from the Iron
Age into the Roman period. In the late 2d c. a pentagonal
area of 7 ha was enclosed by an earth rampart, which
was later cut back to accommodate a stone wall. There
has been little examination of the interior. Air photographs indicate a central N-S street with at least two
branches to E and W. Several architectural fragments
suggest buildings of some pretension. The most important find was a hoard of bronze vessels, dating from
ca. A.D. 400.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. N. Hall & N. Nickerson, “Excavations at Irchester, 1962-3,”
ArchJ 124 (1967) 65ff; J.
Knight, “Excavations at the Roman Town of Irchester,
1962-3,” ibid. 100ff; D. Kennett, “The Irchester Bowls,”
Journ. Northampton Museum & Art Gallery 4 (1968)
5ff.
M. TODD
