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Roman settlement dating back 2,000 years found under new-build estate

Sarah EasedaleBBC Wales
BBC A roughly octagonal shaped brooch which appears to be very old with crusted and corroded metal. There are small pieces of pale green enamel arranged in two concentric circles on the brooch which is sitting in a bed of black jewellery- box foam.BBC
One of the brooches recovered from the site retains its decorative green enamel though the copper-ore metal work has corroded over time

A "very significant" Roman settlement, including a jewellery workshop dating back nearly 2,000 years, has been found under a new-build housing estate.

Heneb - the trust for Welsh archaeology - made the "unexpected" discovery in Mancot, Flintshire, amid mining surveys being carried out for the development and called it "one of the biggest" Roman artefact collections in the county.

A number of brooches and moulds have undergone conservation and will be further analysed at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff before going on display in north-east Wales.

Project manager Chris Matthews, said the find was "very exciting" and it changed what was understood about the history of the area.

A man with short dark hair, a beard, moustache and wearing glasses sits at a large table which is covered with pieces of pottery and small plastic bags containing items recovered from the archaeological excavation including brooches and jewellery moulds. He is wearing a dark green fleece with the Heneb logo just visible. There is a large bookcase to his right and a window and a TV monitor in the background.
Chris Matthews says it is "great time" to be an archaeologist in north-east Wales

Homes have now been built over the excavation site on Gladstone Way, but not before dozens of items including pottery, coins and the jewellery were removed.

The area was also mapped and showed the settlement extended underneath the village of Mancot, which sits between Hawarden and Queensferry.

Matthews said, in spite of its position overlooking the important Roman city of Chester, very little associated archaeology had been found in north-east Wales until recently.

He said it meant that archaeologists and historians in the area had long debated whether it reflected a "poor relationship" between the Romans and the native population of the time.

But finds such as this one and others in Greenfield and Rossett in Wrexham, were making them realise it "probably wasn't the case".

Matthews said the Mancot site "possibly" originated in the Iron Age period, before the arrival of the Romans, and "continued to have successive occupation for a very long period of time".

This idea was strengthened by two coins found there - one from the reign of the emperor Commodus, who was in power from AD 177 to 192, and another depicting Constantine, who reigned about 200 years later.

A pair of hands holding a long Roman metal brooch which is slightly corroded with age. It appears to depict perhaps a bird with a long beak forming the decorative part of the item above the pin which is just visible behind. A small amount of orange enamel still remains on the item.
Brooches like this one found in Mancot were used as clothing fastenings, but were also decorative and brightly coloured, often depicting animals

Evidence of the jewellery workshop discovered in Heneb's excavations showed there was "industry" making use of the rich metal resources in the area, and producing "important commodities for Roman society," he added.

The discovery of the lead moulds shows they were producing a "wide range" of brooches, which were functional items to fasten clothing, but often highly decorative and depicted animals.

It is thought the workshop serviced Roman society in Chester, but there is also evidence on the site through pottery fragments recovered that trading was as far away as mainland Europe.

A field in the foreground with a partially build new housing estate in the background showing red brick houses. some completed and some with the timber roof frames exposed. In the background there are trees and a signs of a further settlement. to the right of the background three white tower blocks are visible in the distance.
There is now a new housing development on part of the Roman settlement site which sits on a hill overlooking Chester

Experts in Cardiff will now try to learn as much as they can from the brooches - including how they were made, the types of metals used and where they came from.

But it is hoped they will soon return to Flintshire Museums Service to go on public display, with a long-term plan to bring all the Roman discoveries from north-east Wales together.

Matthews said it was "the very beginning of what could be a very long period of discoveries in the area".

He added: "It's a very good time to be an archaeologist in the north. It's very exciting."

Sophie Fish, museums manager at Gwella, which manages the councils libraries and leisure, said she hoped "some of the most interesting finds" from Mancot could go on display at Mold Museum in 2027.

She added: "I am particularly excited by the wonderful Roman brooches that have recently been excavated at Mancot.

"They give us a unique insight into life almost 2,000 years ago."

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