Highways Agency

THE NORTH

• M1-A1 LOFTHOUSE TO BRAMHAM LINK
• M6 (M66) MANCHESTER OUTER RING ROAD DENTON-MIDDLETON
• M65 BLACKBURN SOUTHERN BYPASS
• A69 HALTWHISTLE BYPASS
• A1 WALSHFORD TO DISHFORTH

M1 - A1 Lofthouse to Bramham Link

Saxon Pit House

Finds of national importance, two early Anglo-Saxon grubenhäusen - the first to be found in West Yorkshire - were made while the road was being built. They date to the fifth century AD.

The grubenhäuser, as its name suggests, was Germanic in origin and was a pit house, with the earth at its base grubbed away to form a shallow depression over which the house was built. These sunken-floored huts represent a change in house-building from the round shape to the rectangular. Rare pottery was also found at the site.

West Yorkshire Archaeology Service investigated 34 sites along eight kilometers of the road, which revealed evidence of ancient rural landscape dating from the Bronze Age and which had been developed in the late Iron Age and Roman periods.

There was significant evidence from Bronze Age domestic activity and ritual practices at three sites and excavation produced a large number of Bronze Age artefacts. The major find was an almost intact collared urn, containing cremated human remains.

Iron Age and Roman settlement, enclosures and field systems were also investigated at six sites and these produced large amounts of Roman pottery.

The scheme also gave archaeologists an opportunity to investigate and reassess the function and dates of three earthworks - the Aberford Dykes and Grim's Ditch. The ditch has been thought to be part of a Roman road, though later theories have suggested that the three earthworks together formed part of a defence line around the kingdom of Elmet.

An Anglo-Saxon grübenhauser - the first move away from traditional round houses

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M6 (M66) Manchester Outer Ring Road Denton-Middleton

Timbers from the roof and walls of a 17th century building at Lower Lime Farm, Oldham, were removed carefully when the building was demolished in March 1998. It may have been the original farmhouse. The farm was found on the earliest map of the area dated 1793, covering Ashton-under-Lyne. The 40 timbers have now been stored by Oldham council.

M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass

Not all archaeological investigations are concerned with the distant past. Excavations were made at two Word War II sites at Stanhill Camp, one of them a group of anti-aircraft installations, the second a prisoner-of-war camp.

The anti-aircraft site consisted of a control bunker surrounded by four gun batteries. Each battery contained within its thick walls a circular gun platform which would have held a revolving 3.7 calibre 'ack ack' gun, four ammunition stores and a billet for the gun crew. The purpose of the site - said originally to have been a searchlight battery - would probably have been to protect Blackburn from enemy air attacks coming from the south.

A prisoner-of-war camp was built nearby, which held Italian prisoners during the war - football matches were organised between the inmates and the locals. The Italians were moved in 1945 and 200 Germans were held there until the camp closed in May 1947. All that remains of the camp are the concrete foundations and floors of the barrack block.

The old and the new ... excavation work on the Roman road at Hook Moor took place as the new road was being built (left picture)

Burial of probable Roman date at Garforth (right picture)

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A69 Haltwhistle Bypass

In June 1996 a watching brief was conducted by Northern Archaeological Associates over about a third of the 3.5km Haltwhistle bypass from Bellister Castle westwards towards the embankment of the disused Haltwhistle-Alston railway line, through which the bypass runs.

South of the River South Tyne, the bypass crosses the edge of a late pre-glacial terrace of silt and sand and more recent deposits of the past 10,000 years.

On the northern edge of the gravel terrace the remains of a previously-unsuspected Iron Age/Romano-British period site were discovered.

Approximately 600m north-east of Bellister Castle, under the topsoil was an arc of stones forming part of a circular feature some 8.8m in diameter. Hand-cleaning revealed a small concentration of charcoal and burnt bone at its centre and a small pit cutting the northern edge of the arc of stones. The find was initially thought to represent the truncated remains of a barrow, with a central cremation, however, on investigation the stone arc proved to form part of the construction trench of a timber-built round house.

Detailed excavation revealed evidence for the walls of two timber-built, round houses. The construction trenches survived only as short vestigial arcs between 0.15 - 0.30m deep, filled with packing stones. These would originally have contained vertical timbers. There were also post holes and an area of cobbling, part of a porch and a possible yard surface.

A shallow pit in the middle of one of the round houses contained charcoal and burnt bone from a cremation. Analysis of the identified human skull fragments, teeth and long bones belonging to an adult.

The charcoal comprised fragments of oak, alder and sloe, with two charred barley grains. Two sherds of almost certainly Roman pottery were also recovered.

No evidence was identified of either a palisade trench or an enclosure ditch, suggesting that the site may have been unenclosed. The majority of Iron-Age/ Romano-British settlement sites which have been identified are enclosed either by a palisade or ditch, the latter making them particularly recognisable cropmark features.

Cremations and burials are not unknown on other Iron Age - Romano-British sites, but usually these are located away from the areas of occupation.

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A1 Walshford to Dishforth

A report has been prepared by Northern Archaeological Associates on the Roman military site at Roecliffe. The discoveries included double defensive ditches, a series of outworks and evidence of extramural activity. The site has been dated to c. AD 71 and c. AD 85.