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Excavations along the A66 in Cumbria are revealing how this area formed a vital corridor for transport, travel, and trade over millennia.
After an initial evaluation in 2022-2024 and ahead of proposed upgrades to the route, Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA, working on behalf of Aureos, Balfour Beatty Atkins, Kier, and National Highways) began excavating sites along a 21-mile (34km) stretch of the A66, which connects the M6 at Penrith with the A1 at Scotch Corner, in January 2025. The project is ongoing, but a wealth of finds have already been uncovered, reflecting Roman occupation and extensive prehistoric activity.
It was already known that the modern road roughly follows the line of a Roman predecessor leading to Brocavum Roman fort, and part of that routeway was exposed during the excavation, north-west of Warcop, near Wildboar Hill. OCA have revealed nearly 600m (1,980ft) of its well-preserved remains, which cross a boggy area and, in some places, appear to have been built directly on deep peat deposits. Peat can be a wonderful time capsule of palaeoenvironmental data, and it is hoped that analysis will provide evidence for past climates and vegetation.
While Brocavum Roman fort did not itself form part of the project’s scope, the excavations have uncovered part of its extra-mural civilian settlement and an associated cemetery. Within the settlement, the team found footings for several large buildings as well as cobbled trackways; full interpretation will form part of post-excavation analysis. As for the cemetery, over 340 graves have been excavated, making it one of the largest Roman cemeteries excavated in recent years. The majority of burials were cremations (the team also discovered pyre remains on the site), but the graves varied greatly in their characteristics. Some were stone-lined, and could be richly furnished with vessels made of glass, pottery, and bronze, as well as fine jewellery and even weapons. Other individuals, however, had been interred more simply in plain pits. Although unburnt bone rarely survived due to acidic soils, several inhumation burials were identified, too, some of which were laid out within long, coffin-shaped, sandstone-lined cists. Once analysed, the different burial rites and associated finds will give detailed insights into life and death on the edge of the Roman Empire.
The project has also revealed numerous prehistoric sites, particularly at the eastern end of the road scheme near Brough, at the foot of the Pennines. Discoveries include Mesolithic and Neolithic stone tools collected during field-walking and the excavation of occupation sites. Decorated middle and later Neolithic pottery has been found as well, which indicates cross-Pennine trade and exchange in these periods. There are occupation sites and domestic structures dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Age, too, as well as an (as-yet undated) large post-hole and ditched enclosures.
Excavations are set to continue throughout the year, and expectations are high for more illuminating discoveries. We will bring you updates in due course.
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Photo: Oxford Cotswold Archaeology
