The foreground shows a large area of archaeological excavation with archaeologists just visible as small figures within the trench. Beyond the trench farmland stretches towards the horizon.
A general view over Stanwick villa in it’s surrounding landscape. © Historic England
A general view over Stanwick villa in it’s surrounding landscape. © Historic England

Showcasing Stanwick

Historic England, with the Archaeological Resource Centre in Northamptonshire, are archiving and publishing research on what is believed to be the largest archaeological collection in that county, from the Iron Age and Romano-British site of Stanwick.

Background to the site

Substantial excavations at Stanwick, Northamptonshire, were carried out in advance of gravel extraction between 1984 and 1992 as part of the Raunds Area Project, which otherwise comprised smaller excavation and survey work.

Extensive and productive in their own right, in the broader context of the Raunds Area Project the Stanwick excavations offer a unique opportunity to examine the development of Iron Age and Romano-British rural settlement, society and economy in a landscape setting and in the context of earlier and later evidence for settlement and agriculture.

Forthcoming work

Historic England have developed a project to ensure that materials required for further analysis work of this crucial site are publicly available and appropriately signposted.

The work plan devised to achieve these aims will have the following outputs:

  • Publication of all existing work undertaken by specialists, either as reports in the Historic England Research Reports series or as journal articles
  • Preparation of a research framework for the human remains recovered from the excavations
  • Publication of a statement of the potential and significance of the assemblage, including recommendations for analysis as well as signposting published research
  • Dissemination of the digital data archive associated with the project.

The project archive

An integral part of this project has been the successful transfer of the material archive to the newly created Archaeological Resource Centre , a dedicated repository for archaeological work in Northamptonshire. Stanwick is the largest archaeological collection in the county and the Archaeological Resource Centre team will be sharing its highlights with their visitors.

In the meantime, Historic England is preparing for deposition of the vast associated digital data archive, ensuring it is both accessible and secure for current and future generations of researchers.

Further reading

As this project progresses and outputs are generated, they will be listed and advertised here.

Our most recent publications relating to this site discuss:

You can use our research reports search to find other existing Stanwick reporting in the Historic England Research Report Series.

Name and role
Name

Rachel Cubitt

Title and organisation
Archaeologist – Finds Specialist at Historic England
Details
Description
Rachel is a small finds specialist with particular expertise in artefacts of the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods. Her extensive experience of the post excavation process has been developed through many years of working within commercial archaeology. She has dealt with finds at every stage of the process from field to archive, as well as having undertaken curatorial work. Rachel is enthusiastic about the dissemination of archaeological research to a diverse audience. In addition to publishing and speaking about her own research, she has played a key role in managing and contributing to other publication projects. Rachel is a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists at Associate level.