Archaeological dig in Cockermouth unearths 2,000 years worth of history

• ITV Border's Andrew Misra visits an archaeological dig in Cockermouth

An archaeological dig in Cockermouth has unearthed more than 2,000 years worth of history.

Opposite the banks of the River Derwent, archaeologists are starting to scratch beneath the surface.

Archaeologist Cath Ross said: "So what we are seeing here is a an area of civilian settlement outside of the fort of Papcastle.

"So we are seeing how the militaries were interacting with the civilian population.

"We are having a look at what activities they were getting up to here and we have quite a big industrial area over by the river."

The river's role in recent history helped facilitate this ancient exploration. Flooding in 2009 and 2015 prompted landowner, Bob Slack, to explore putting flood defences in here.

Speaking about the flooding issues faced in the area, Bob said: "Cockermouth floods on a regular basis.

"As long as global warming is going on it is flooding more often, so something needs to be done.

"They have previously found a corn mill and this time they think they may have found an amphitheatre, the corner of the village and iron workings."

The team still expects to be on sight for several weeks yet. Once work has been completed, there are plans to show off what's been found at an open day.

Cath Ross added: "What we are looking here is the civilian vicus which was outside of the fort and what is interesting about this is it covers 23 hectares and it is one of the largest vici in the northern frontier zone."

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