More information : (TF 126077 derived from OS 1:10000) The multi-period site at Maxey was discovered by Dr. J.K.St. Joseph from aerial photography (see TF 10 NW 1 for an outline of the main features). Complex cropmarks of ring ditches, linears and enclosures at Maxey were plotted in the 1956 RCHME survey. (1)
In 1962-63 WG Simpson excavated at Maxey in advance of gravel extraction in Bardyke Field. The Maxey cursus, great henge and other linear features and rectilinear enclosures could be seen on aerial photographs.
Excavations revealed a late Iron Age linear boundary ditch with a rectilinear enclosure attached. The linear ditch was excavated at two points: just west of the outer henge ditch and in the SW quarter of the henge. Successive recuts of the main ditch were identified, the ditch was typically 4.9m wide. Small ditches running along either side of the main ditch were c 60cm wide and 30cm deep, Simpson suggests these may be earlier than the main ditch. Finds were not plentiful and consisted of fragments of animal bone and of shell-gritted handmade pottery. The ditch seemed to have filled up by the mid-2nd century AD at the latest.
Most of the finds came from the are of the ditch adjacent to the rectilinear enclosure: charcoal, animal bones, metalworking debris, shell-gritted pottery with early Roman pottery from the upper levels of the fill. The rectilinear enclosure itself lay north of the ditch line, its east ditch against the outer edge of the central ring ditch of the henge. The enclosure measured 20.4m x 23.45m x 22.4m. The entrance was set in the west side of the enclosure and was originall 1.5m wide and later 2.7m, a large post-hole was found inside the entrance. A small annexe was attached to the northwest corner of the enclosure. finds included animal bones, charcoal, pottery, lumps of fired clay, parts of an iron smelting furnace and crucibles connected with copper or bronze working.
Gravel has now been extracted from this part of Bardyke field.(2)
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