Denton

16 DENTON

(OS 1:10000 ^a SP 85 NW, ^b SP 85 NE)

The roughly triangular parish, covering nearly 630 hectares, lies on land rising southwards between 84 m. and 112 m. above OD. It is almost entirely covered by Boulder Clay except in the valleys of small N.-flowing streams where areas of limestones and silts are exposed. Intensive fieldwork has located a number of prehistoric and Roman sites, all on the heavier clay areas.

Prehistoric and Roman

An unclassifiable Palaeolithic flake (NM) may have come from Denton. Worked flints, including a leaf-shaped arrowhead, have been found at SP 841584 (BNFAS, 3 (1969), 4; 6 (1971), 8, Denton (2)) and a flint arrowhead and scraper at SP 844573 (BNFAS, 6 (1971), 8, Denton (7)). A Roman coin was discovered at SP 836579 (OS Record Cards).

^a(1) Iron Age and Roman Settlement (SP 83135800; Fig. 35), between the village and Mere Barn, on Boulder Clay at 107 m. above OD. Air photographs (in NMR) show a series of rectangular ditched enclosures with indistinct internal features in some of them, covering an area of about 2 hectares. Finds from the same field include Iron Age and Roman pottery, Roman tiles and a flint scraper, associated with a scatter of stones. A coin of Nero was also found (BNFAS, 3 (1969), 9; 4 (1970), 31; 6 (1971), 8, Denton (4)).

^a(2) Iron Age and Roman Settlement (centred SP 840590), S. of Denton Barn, on Boulder Clay at 91 m. above OD. Finds include:

(a) at SP 840589, Iron Age and Roman pottery, part of a quern and part of a bronze bracelet. Patches of dark soil suggest the presence of pits and ditches (BNFAS, 6 (1971), 8, Denton (1)).

(b) at SP 838590, Iron Age and Roman pottery (OS Record Cards).

(c) at SP 841590, Iron Age pottery (OS Record Cards).

(d) at SP 840589, part of a bronze toilet set (Northants. Archaeol., 8 (1973), 6).

^a(3) Iron Age and Roman Settlement (?) (centred SP 828561), E. of The Oaks, on Boulder Clay at 112 m. above OD. Two parallel ditches about 33 m. apart, perhaps part of ditched enclosure, have been traced in the plough-soil. Small quantities of Iron Age and Roman pottery have been found in the area (BNFAS, 6 (1971), Denton (9) and (10); NM Records; OS Record Cards).

^a(4) Iron Age and Roman Pottery (SP 835562), has been found on Boulder Clay at 110 m. above OD (BNFAS, 6 (1971), 8, Denton (8)).

^a(5) Iron Age and Roman Settlement (SP 828574), at the W. end of the parish, on Boulder Clay at 107 m. above OD. Iron Age and Roman pottery were found with patches of dark soil and large stones (BNFAS, 6 (1971), 8, Denton (5)).

^a(6) Roman Pottery (SP 843583), E. of the village, on Boulder Clay at 82 m. above OD. Roman pottery, including samian and grey wares, was found near a scatter of limestone (BNFAS, 4 (1970), 8).

^a(7) Ditched Trackway and Roman Settlement (?) (SP 83905742 – 84105770), S.E. of the village, on Boulder Clay at between 91 m. and 103 m. above OD. Air photographs (in NMR) show a short section of ditched trackway underlying later ridge-and-furrow. To the N.E. Roman pottery and part of a quern have been found (BNFAS, 6 (1971), 8, Denton (6)).

^a(8) Roman Pottery (SP 834558), 500 m. E.S.E. of (3), on Boulder Clay at 110 m. above OD. Roman sherds and part of a quern have been found (BNFAS, 6 (1971), 8, Denton (11)).

Medieval and Later

^a(9) Settlement Remains (SP 836580), formerly part of Denton village, lay 200 m. W. of the church on the N. side of the old road into the village, on Boulder Clay at 91 m. above OD. The earthworks have been almost entirely destroyed by a modern housing estate, but air photographs taken before the recent development show a series of small embanked closes, a pond and possible former building sites, all situated within and around the edges of a small combe. The area was bounded on the W. by a low bank, beyond which lay ridge-and-furrow (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 4011–2; FSL 6565, 1858).

(10) Cultivation Remains. The common fields of the parish were enclosed by Act of Parliament of 1770. Ridge-and-furrow of these fields exists on the ground or can be traced on air photographs over most of the parish except in the S.E. where there are extensive areas of woodland. On the more broken ground in the N. half of the parish the furlongs are all end-on with ridges at right-angles to the contours. In the S. of the parish, on the generally flatter ground, the furlongs tend to be interlocked (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 4010–3; CPE/ UK/1994, 2186–90, 3181; F21 543/RAF/943, 0051–5; F22 543/RAF/2409, 0156–8).