Excavations at Wixams, Bedfordshire

In 2017, Albion Archaeology excavated an area of Iron Age and Roman settlement prior to development at Wixams, 3km south of Bedford.

Three roundhouses were built in the middle-late Iron Age, followed in the late Iron Age by a large D-shaped enclosure that was used for a mixture of human habitation and corralling livestock. Two cremation cemeteries lay to the north.

A new series of enclosures and interlinked trackways was established in the last 1st century AD, covering at least 2 hectares: its domestic focus contained circular and rectangular buildings, while there were also water-pits, a kiln, a small inhumation cemetery and three isolated inhumations. The presence of late 4th-century coins suggests that occupation continued to the end of the Roman period, and perhaps beyond: early-middle Anglo-Saxon pottery was present in the upper fills of Roman features.

The farmsteads occupied low-lying land between two brooks, ideal for a mixed-farming economy - the Roman kiln was used for drying crops as well as firing pottery. Objects such as hobnails, finger rings, hair pins and 126 coins illustrate the adoption of Roman culture.

Further information about these excavations is newly published as part of our monograph series. Monograph 12: Iron Age and Roman Settlement at the Wixams Northern Expansion Area, Bedfordshire is available now.