A newly discovered Roman small town south of Great Staughton, Cambridgeshire, has been given heritage protection as a scheduled monument by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England.
The town was first fully identified through aerial photography and crop marks.
Evaluation work carried out by AOC Archaeology Group has confirmed that the buried archaeological features are well preserved and extend across around 31 hectares.
Councillor Lorna Dupre, Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Environment and Green Investment Committee said: “This is an exciting and remarkable discovery which reshapes our understanding of Roman Cambridgeshire. Whilst this area had previously been recognised as a place of historical interest locally, we were surprised by the scale and complexity of this well-established town.”
“There have only been a handful of schedulings in Cambridgeshire over the last decade and this is by far the most significant. This site is now our second largest Roman Scheduled Monument after the walled town of Durobrivae, five miles west of Peterborough. I’d like to extend my thanks to those who have worked diligently to recognise this new discovery.”
Read the full story on Historic England's website.
