Highways Agency

• History

Here you can find out more about some of the archaeological work and discoveries that have been made during work on road projects across our network.

Some of these discoveries may have been made near you!

A30 Bodmin to Indian Queens Improvement

The new A30 consists of 11.57km (7 mile) stretch of new dual carriageway. Between Indian Queens and Victoria, the route is located about 500m to the north of the existing A30, passing to the south of Royalton and Belowda.

Archaeologists working for Highways Agency on this scheme have uncovered traces of settlement and ritual sites spanning more than 4000 years, near the village of Belowda. Find out more.

A41 Aston Clinton Bypass

The bypass route is a 6.3km long dual two-lane road passing to the north of Aston Clinton between Woodlands Roundabout in the west and Tring Hill roundabout in the east. The project includes bridges carrying side roads over the bypass and a local diversion of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

The A41 Aston Clinton bypass posed some challenging archaeological problems and provided some fascinating insights into this area's past. Find out more.

A34 Chieveley / M4 Jct 13 Improvement

The A34 Chieveley/M4 Junction 13 Improvement Scheme was opened to traffic in August 2004. The work has included construction of ten new bridges and 3 km of new dual carriageway.

Throughout the entire site of the new road construction there is an opportunity to unearth archaeological remains. Highway projects such as the A34/M4 Junction 13 offer a rare opportunity to investigate remains. Find out more.

A2 / A282 Dartford Improvement

This is a major improvement scheme to reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability on the A2/A282 at Dartford.

Over several years a series of studies have assessed potential archaeological sites to decide where more detailed exploration would be needed before the A2/A282 Dartford Improvement could be built. Find out more.

A2 Bean to Cobham: Phase 2

The A2 is being widened to four lanes with hard shoulders in each direction between Pepperhill and Cobham junctions. The widening scheme is the second phase of the overall A2 Bean to Cobham scheme, the first phase Bean to Pepperhill, was completed in December 2004.

A team of up to 50 archaeologists has been working since September 2006 to ensure that archaeological remains are appropriately dealt with and recorded prior to the start of the earthworks. The investigations have revealed evidence of settlements in the area from the Middle Bronze Age (1500 BC) to the late Medieval period (1400 AD).

They have discovered a rich archaeological landscape revealing artefacts over 10,000 years old. The discoveries include a series of Roman high status burials dating from the 1st Century AD, which are amongst the best examples found in Britain to date and contain bronze vessels similar to ones found in the ancient remains at Pompeii. Find out more.

A6 Rushden and Higham Ferrers Bypass

The bypass was built to remove a significant amount of traffic from the towns of Rushden and Higham Ferrers, reducing the number of accidents and improving the environment within them.

The land around Higham Ferrers and Rushden is known to be rich in archaeological remains dating to the prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. When the decision was taken to construct the new bypass to the east of the towns there was always the possibility of new sites being found. Find out more.

A66 Temple Sowerby Bypass and Improvements at Winderwath

The 5 km (3.1 mile) dual carriageway bypass starts in the west near Whinfell House and passes to the south and west of Temple Sowerby terminating in the east near Spitals Farm.

We carried out an archaeological survey of the line of the bypass. Children from the Temple Sowerby C of E Primary School were invited to the site to see how the work was done.

We excavated a total of 67 trenches along the route and two important finds were made. Find out more.