Remains of a Roman-era settlement found in Hurworth fields

The most eye-catching of the finds is a small, 2,000-year-old brooch.

Archaeologists from Durham University have found pottery, food remains and the probable outlines of roundhouses which indicate “episodes of rural settlement of significant intensity and duration” and which give a tantalising glimpse into local life 20 centuries ago.

The pottery sherds provide a date for the Roundhill Road settlement, which is on the Darlington stadium side of the village. The potsherds come from a period between the 2nd and 4th Centuries AD, and most are 3rd Century, which is probably when the settlement was at its peak.

The archaeologists have been working on the site over the summer, and their report has now been lodged with Darlington council along with the Banks Group’s application for planning permission to develop the fields.

Ditches have been found which point to the existence of timber roundhouses, which were probably lived in by an extended family whose members farmed the fields around. They grew wheat and barley, and had a corn-drying kiln for processing their crops.

Bone fragments show they kept cattle, and there were the remains of gathered hay which would have been used for fodder or bedding.

The people supplemented their diet by collecting hazelnuts from the wild, and there was evidence of burnt turf, which may have been fuel to keep them warm or to cook over, or it could have been a roofing material.

Pieces of pottery came from Nene Valley in Huntingdonshire and Crambeck, near Malton, in North Yorkshire – two well known centres of production at this time.

But these pottery pieces also give us an insight into the lives of these early Hurworthians, as these farmers would probably have ventured to a market in a nearby Roman town – the nearest would be either Piercebridge or East Park at Sedgefield or Catterick – where they bought the pottery. This suggests that they were using Roman money – previously, three Roman coins have been found in Hurworth – and they may have had a smattering of Latin to go with their native Celtic language so they could bargain at the market.

The brooch, which archaeologists call a “trumpet type” due to its shape, is made of copper alloy and was probably mass produced somewhere in the Roman Empire and sold on a local market.

Despite their trading skills, these people still had a go at making their own – there are a couple of fragments from a locally handmade pot among the 30 sherds found on the site.

A few decades ago, archaeologists would have been extremely excited about these finds, but now, as archaeology is demanded by planning authorities and development is encroaching onto more greenfield sites, they are becoming less rare. For instance, when the Hitachi factory at Aycliffe was in its early stages, the outlines of 20 roundhouses were discovered.

It is now thought that 2,000 years ago, our area was surprisingly densely inhabited. There weren’t many villages or towns but the landscape would have been dotted with these small settlements every couple of miles or so.

When Rockliffe Hall golf course was being developed in 2007 at Hurworth, a similar habitation was discovered on the banks of the River Tees. It was from the early 4th Century, and it included corn-drying kilns, corn-grinding stones, quenching troughs for a forge and the remains of a rather fine dish. This short-lived settlement would have been the closest neighbour to the new discovery.

Another close neighbour would have been on the Yorkshire bank of the river at Dalton-on-Tees where there are all sorts of interesting remains, including two Roman era villas.

Bank Group’s community relations manager Lewis Stokes said: "No archaeological deposits have been identified which require preservation in situ, and all have been recorded in an archive currently held by Archaeological Services Durham University which will be transferred to the Bowes Museum in due course.”

The Banks Group believes that its proposals are “in keeping with the existing character, size and scale of the village” and “will bring many long-term economic, environmental and social benefits to the local community”, whereas villagers are gathering on Roundhill Road tomorrow at 10.30am to form a human chain to protest against the expansion of their village.

Whichever way Darlington council’s decision goes, the planning process has allowed a fascinating glimpse of village life 2,000 years ago.

ALMOST thrown away in the archaeological report is a line which says: “A cropmark to the west of Hurworth, approximately 800 metres west of the potential development area, has been putatively identified as the remains of a Roman fort.”

Unfortunately, we have yet to find anyone to explain this. From this brief description, the site appears to be near the East Coast Main Line and would have looked down on the confluence of the Skerne and the Tees – perhaps the Romans in the fort were keeping an eye on what is now the A167 crossings of these rivers.