Excavation has increasingly highlighted aspects of the continuity of settlement from the fourth into the sixth centuries. This paper offers an additional set of evidence to show that continuity of the field and cropping units associated with settlement is also detectable from this period using excavation, landscape and later manuscript evidence. The recognition that some late Roman ditches underlie later medieval headlands of open:field systems has been well explored already. In the east Midlands area of Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire recent work indicates that in some cases a fossilization of Roman _fields took place. 71wt fossilization is indicated by areas of small medievalfurlongs associated with sites oflate Roman and early medieval date, and could indicate continuity within the farmed landscape with little intermption to the farming system.In the last twenty years archaeological excavation and extensive field-walking programmes in the areas of the middle and lower Nene valley of north-east Northamptonshire, northern Cambridgeshire and the lower Weiland valley have shown increasing numbers of sites where late Roman and early medieval material suggests a continuity of occupation. Until now it has been thought possible to deal with the transition from Romano-British to early medieval on sites only from the evidence of changes in pottery, building character and layout. The traditional massproduced ceramic wares of the fourth century cease with the supposed arrival of migrant families who introduced their own styles and forms of vessels that were handmade with markedly different fabrics and decorative forms. New traditions of pottery also heralded new building forms of wood and thatch which replaced the Roman stone-built structures. Personal items, such as brooches, pins and weaponry, also show marked differences between the fourth, and the fifth and sixth centuries. This supposed changeover is still poorly understood and relies on the traditional view of a 'replacement' population with all of the problems that it entails. To some scholars the 'Saxon invasion and settlement appear more as the political take-over of a disintegrating society rather than a mass replacement' (Taylor I983, I I I).Recent work presented within this paper has attempted to examine different aspects of the available evidence and link sites which exhibit a continuity from late Roman to the fifth century with later medieval and post-medieval field layouts. Such field systems demonstrate that there is, in some cases and in isolated areas, evidence to show that the shape and size of medieval and post-medieval furlongs may perpetuate the Roman fields which had continued in use through to the fifth and sixth centuries. These fifth-and sixth-century fields later evolved into more developed field systems. Such field systems are well attested in many parts of the country by the ninth century.Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 03:

Tbis paper brings together the results of fieldwork suroeys in the east midlands and presents findings which show eight different forms of ridge and furrow cross profile. Suggestions are made for the reasons why different profiles of ridge and furrow were ploughed and links made to their use in either pre-enclosure or post enclosure contexts. It is clear that medieval and postmedieval cultivation ridges where easily modified and could be ploughed into a variety of forms.

At about the beginning of July, 1736, a servant to one Mr. Campion, a gentleman Farmer living at a little Village called Coddlestock in the County of Northamptonshire, at a distance of about one mile from Oundle, being at plow in an open field belonging to the said village, and at the edge of that lordship adjoining to Glaphorn Field on a Headland commonly call'd the Guild Acre, discovered in a furrow several little stones which made a very uncommon appearance, and with which having acquainted his Master, he with an intimate Neighbour or two went privately to the place, and caused so much of the earth to be cleared from it, as to give them a view of a small part of a very elegant piece of work, to which they were unable to assign any Name. 1 "INTRODUCTION T his is the first recorded account of the presence of a villa at Cotterstock in Northamptonshire; intense interest in the site followed in the summer and autumn of 1736. News of the discovery of mosaic pavements aroused the interest of William Stukeley, the recently formed Society of Antiquaries, 2 local landowners and the inhabitants of the local villages. A detailed drawing was made of the mosaic in 1737 and other pavements were discovered and drawn in 1798. After this, however, the site faded from any written record and even the exact location was lost. The correct site for the villa is even 500 m away from the point shown on the OS map. 3 This paper aims to provide a review of the early discoveries related to the site and to outline the results of recent air photographic surveys, a geophysical survey, and field-walking linked to the observations made during the cleaning of an Enclosure period (c. 1815) ditch line that cuts through the site. A composite plan combining all the evidence has been produced indicating that the villa covered an area in excess of 250 m by 70 m, with ranges of rooms set around several courtyards. The site has now been scheduled as an ancient monument. LOCATION AND GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY The site is located within the parish of Cotterstock in Northamptonshire midway between the two villages of Cotterstock and Glapthorn (FIGS 1-2). The river Nene runs approximately 2 km to the east and the villa lies on the northern side of one of the tributary streams that feed into the Nene to the south of Cotterstock village. This tributary has cut its own valley system into the underlying 1

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