Huge Roman trading settlement found at HS2 archaeological site in Northamptonshire

[@Mediumal]

HS2 has already paid for itself by the enormous number of significant archaeological sites it has uncovered and brought to light. Wonderful historical find that helps us to better understand what went on in these islands 2000 plus years ago. Brilliant stuff.

[@davidwebb4904]

Enormous number of sites, which it then sends a fleet of excavators thru….

[@arfon2000]

@@davidwebb4904 I mean they document it extremely thoroughly first though, just imagine how many sites like this have been lost over the years with people just ploughing through.

[@davidwebb4904]

@@arfon2000 I appreciate that, but still, its not as if there isnt an option. Huge swaths of countryside are being eaten up by this stupid train line.

[@DavidShepheard]

@@davidwebb4904 It's a straight line, rather like the roads that the Romans built. And, just as the roads the Romans brought to Britain revolutionised the way that people could travel around the country, high speed rail is going to revolutionise the way that our existing mainlines work. Currently, our mostly Victorian rail network has InterCity trains eating up capacity needed by local services, so that we get big gaps between trains outside of London. HS2 is going to free up a lot of capacity on it's route, allow for more commuter trains (that can help people switch from cars to trains) more long distance capacity (that can help people switch from domestic flights to high speed rail) and more spare capacity on the commuter lines (that can help move cargo out of lorries and onto freight trains). Today, in London, the polution was so bad that people with breathing problems were advised to avoid exercising outside. And we have had a child killed by pollution. And that is the future for every other city in the UK, unless we stop pumping investment into motorways, catch up with 100 years of neglect on long distance and short distance railways (in all four countries within the UK) and ban domestic flights. Giving up a small amount of agricultural land, in order to clean up the air in the entire country is going to reduce the pollution damage on nature too.

[@davidwebb4904]

@@DavidShepheard So, build the new route in a tunnel. No surface disruption, no seizure of private property, no destruction of the countryside, no destruction of historical sites.

[@mc2594]

a Roman Motorway! ... the M VI Services?↖

[@DavidShepheard]

Awesome video. You have the music level up quite a bit higher than the MOLA spokesperson, so I had to keep pulling the sound down, when he wasn't talking and then putting it back up to hear him.

[@BornLate56]

It isn’t surprising that a large Roman trading settlement should be discovered here. The location is close to where the Welsh Lane (not Road, as it has been mis-named in recent years) - an old drovers’ route, crosses what is now the A361, once a main North - South route connecting the South of England with the North. Banbury livestock market, one of the oldest in England - only nine miles to the South, and once known as the Stockyard of Europe - was in existence when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, and probably came into being after the Roman occupation ended. Banbury itself stood at the junction of the Salt Way and Banbury Lane, and owes its existence to its ideal trading location.

[@HenrysAdventures]

What a fantastic find!

[@holdfast7657]

I wonder how many ancient sites have been lost to the motorway network? There was a time when contractors would ignore any finds for fear of it stopping a job.

[@Hardman._]

Funny you say that the main motorways of Britain are built on top of the old Roman roads.

[@jameshart678]

Right next to the Gosbeck Archeological park in Colchester, there is a by-pass road that runs down towards Colchester zoo. That was originally a Roman road. We know this because the hill on the other side of the road is believed to be a ruin of pre Roman fort. The farmland around the area has been extensively tiled. A mere 200 meters is an open cast sand mine… you can imagine the large scale damage that was inflicted here by private interests! Much of it under the watchful eye of the local government!

[@thetallguy182]

Amazing site!

[@seamuswaldron8090]

It's a great find, really impressive, but what happens next? I presume that this is in the path of HS2, so the site will be destroyed. Will the findings be moved elsewhere? And will there be further digs after the completion of HS2 to see the extent of the find?

[@DavidShepheard]

It's possible that some of the dig is slightly to the side of the railway line, but I would have thought that all the finds will have to be removed and sent to a museum.

[@DavidKnowles0]

It likely the site they are digging is far larger than the actual land needed for the railway.

[@liamfoley9215]

Amazing how the settlement disappeared.

[@crazzy88ss]

The music is 2x louder than the speech and is extremely distracting. Great video, otherwise.

[@jameshart678]

In Colchester there’s a place called Gosbeck Archeological Park where they found the biggest Roman theatre in UK,… not that they bothered to protect the land around it! There is a new development of houses being built right next to it. It’s believed that Gosbeck was the original settlement from where Colchester spread eastwards, yet they never actually found ruins of house on the site itself. And now they’re building houses in its immediate vicinity 😂🤣

[@1chish]

Time Team want their 3 days on here ... 😂

[@davidwebb4904]

Time Team wouldn’t destroy it afterwards. Excavators will tear this place right out of existence. That is criminal.

[@1chish]

@@davidwebb4904 Oh God not you again. What is it with you? As I explained to you twice elsewhere - the HS2 footprint goes much wider than the track bed itself. But do please explain what proof you have 'excavators will tear this place right out of existence'. Sources and links please. Most kind 😏 You are just another anti HS2 NIMBY who has peddled the usual bullshit you people use when you have nothing sensible to add.

[@davidwebb4904]

@@1chish you are unbelievably thick. You are one of those double masked triple jabbed sort 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

[@arfon2000]

@@1chish I believe if it is in the way, and can not be easily avoided, that they will document it thoroughly before wiping it out of existence. Most of the time that these things are found they cover them back up anyway.

[@1chish]

@@arfon2000 Exactly as Time Team do after all their digs.

[@davidsedlickas8222]

The M1 before 1959 !

[@jrooke1990]

Save the old history get rid of HS2 it's costing too much 😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠 let's just use the money the right way to update are old original railway railways in the UK and open some of the old branch were they used to travel🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂👍👍👍👍👍👍 we don't want it's destroying our add old national history, river canal trust waterways, the eco cistern where wildlife lives in certain plants and species👍👍👍😀😀😀😉😉😉

[@DavidShepheard]

The railways do not work like that sadly. Most of our rail network was built in Victorian times. And it was built to move things like coal, rather than people. So our existing mainlines all have sections with different curves that force different speed limits to be applied. You also have the major problem that mixed traffic requires express trains to have big gaps in front of them. And that means that many less stopping trains (the trains used by local people) can fit onto a mainline. By creating a new route, HS2 is going to remove InterCity trains from the mainlines and give those mainlines over to the local railways. That would allow train frequencies to be radically increased. And that just is not possible without extra tracks. HS2 was designed to provide relief on three existing mainlines (meaning it's doing the work of three different mainline widening projects). Without HS2 we would need three projects that would eat up the same amount of land each. And it would probably cost three times as much and take decades (because you can't do dangerous engineering work, with the railway open). HS2 is going to allow us to push modal shift from cars to trains, from lorries to freight trains and from domestic flights to high speed rail. It's the fastest way we have to push down the massive amount of pollution we have from vehicles. And, as for the money, HS2 is funded based on future income from people travelling on high speed rail. So they money does not exist, to spend on something else, if you cancel it.

[@DavidKnowles0]

calm down on the emojis. Railways don't work like that, even upgrades to existing railways are likely not to see fruition until the 2030s. Boris an gang are lying when they say updating the tracks will be faster, they could deploy the same people to build a new railway track and deliver it just as fast but nope they are cheating the Northerners out of a new modern high speed railway an they are likely to get away with it as well. an gang are lying when they say updating the tracks will be faster, they could deploy the same people to build a new railway track and deliver it just as fast but nope they are cheating

[@davidty2006]

How much money has already been put into HS 2 atm? Feels like it'll be just as expensive to cancell as it is to complete at this point.

[@davidwebb4904]

Its great that you find these things. And then you destroy them……..🤬🤬🤬

[@davidwebb4904]

@@tiepup For just 3 Billion £, the entire route could have been tunnelled. But lets spend 100 Billion and destroy the countryside and our history as we go….

[@Samuel_J1]

​@@davidwebb4904 tunnelling the route sounds completely infeasible. It would take far long to tunnel than it will be to run on the surface for the majority of the way, and then it would be even further behind the technology curve. It is a shame though to see such an incredible find destroyed. It's a pity they can't design around it.

[@davidwebb4904]

@@Samuel_J1 I could tunnel phase 1 with four sets of crew in 8 years.

[@davidwebb4904]

@@Samuel_J1 Lots of things sound infeasible, until you research them. I have actual government reports for pricing of this. Its criminal that they instead choose to go the most expensive and most environmentally destructive way.

[@NeonNion]

@@davidwebb4904 "I have actual government reports". Right... just link em.

[@MrDogtown22]

Just leave it as you found it you bunch of muppets

[@Mediumal]

Can't I'm afraid. The country isn't a permanent museum ossified in time. This is the 22nd century not the 2nd. Civilizations which fail to innovate, move forward technically, eventually die. If this is what you are advocating, then I'm afraid it is you who are the muppet. Photograph, record, put as much of the stuff as you can remove into local and national museums for us to marvel at, but the land is required for this time and not the past, interesting though it may be in this state. Those times are gone and it's our country now. There will almost certainly come a time centuries from now when our civilisation is built over and artefacts from our culture are displayed in some future hall of memory. I hate to call it progress, but it invariably is...

[@davidwebb4904]

@@Mediumal Stonehenge is in the way of the A303 widening project. Better get rid of that pile of rubble also….

[@arfon2000]

@@davidwebb4904 one looks a lot more impressive than the other, even if they don't plough through, what you think they going to do with it? Leave it to decay to the elements, all few foundations and all.

[@Mediumal]

@@davidwebb4904 You are being facetious and and utterly silly. We have plenty of Roman archaeological sites. Stonehenge is unique and singularly important. So come off it. The two don’t equate and you know it.