-
Clients
Carillion/Morgan Sindall Joint Venture (CMS JV) on behalf of Highways England
Following Ecus Archaeology’s effective delivery of archaeological works on the A1 Dishforth to Leeming Bar scheme, CMS JV was enthusiastic to continue to use us as the archaeological contractor for the £400 million A1 upgrade over 19km of the road between Leeming and Barton in North Yorkshire.
The investigations were guided by research priorities formulated in consultation with the CMS JV, project consultants AECOM, and Historic England.
Archaeological fieldwork between 2013 and 2017 included large-scale excavations at two Scheduled Monuments: the Roman roadside settlement and cemetery at Bainesse, and the well-preserved and deeply stratified Roman town of Cataractonium. Archaeological monitoring of construction works exposed numerous new and non-designated sites including a large settlement at Scotch Corner that was occupied at the time of the Roman invasion during the 1st century AD.
The focus of the project is now concentrated on assessment and analysis of the archaeological records and remains recovered by the excavations. An extensive public outreach programme is ongoing alongside studies to produce three monographs and several articles. The programme has an overall completion date of 2020, and the publication and dissemination of the archaeological results will provide an enduring legacy to this major national infrastructure project.
You can read more about findings from the A1 scheme in our monographs, A Roman Roadside Settlement at Healam Bridge: The Iron Age to Early Medieval Evidence and Death Burial and Identity: 3000 Years of Death in the Vale of Mowbray, which can be downloaded from the archaeology data service repository.
The Scotch Corner monograph (Contact, Concord and Conquest: Britons and Romans at Scotch Corner) will be available as a free downloadable Pdf by summer 2020, and Cataractonium: Establishment, Consolidation and Retreat will be available in 2021.