June 30 |The Archaeology of the A1 Dishforth to Barton Road Scheme | Dr Stephen Sherlock, A1 Archaeology Clerk of Works. 7.30pm at Stockton Central Library TS18 1TU. Guests are welcome for £4 each on the door.

Steve’s lecture will present the archaeological results from the improvements to the A1 road through North Yorkshire, undertaken on behalf of the Highways Agency between 2009 and 2015. The size of the project—a total length of 24 miles—meant the project was split into two phases, the main site to be excavated during the work in 2009–2010 was the Roman vicus at Healam Beck.

The second programme of work commenced in late 2013 and there has been a broader range of sites—and a substantial increase in the number of artefacts. The sites range from an Early Mesolithic settlement at Little Holtby with over 4,000 flint tools found in 2014, to a burial mound of probable Bronze Age date south of Catterick. The main focus of the excavations is around Catterick, with both Iron Age settlement to the north and Iron Age burials to the south of the Roman fort and town.

The main discoveries have been around Catterick where there are two scheduled ancient monuments. Here there are traces of a Roman cemetery, fields, and metalworking around Bainesse. At Cataractonium, Dere Street has been exposed near the River Swale with Roman buildings alongside and evidence for the town defences near the river itself. The lecture will outline the work at Healam, the approaches to discovering the sites, and present the most up to date interpretations of discoveries around Catterick—although fieldwork and post-excavation analysis will be continuing through 2015.

About the speaker

Steve Sherlock has been a professional archaeologist for 35 years and has spent much of that time working in North-east England and as a TAS member. Whilst much of his research has been focused on East Cleveland, he has undertaken major excavations on Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon sites in the region.

Commercially, he has also excavated and published on later sites such as the medieval settlements at Castleton and Long Marston. He has been the archaeological clerk of works, working on the A1 road improvements in North Yorkshire, as well as other projects in the area. His work is published in regional journals, conference proceedings and in two Tees Archaeology monographs (2012).