Work on solar farm in Cambridgeshire halted by ancient Romans
The remains of a well-preserved, 77-acre Roman town discovered during survey work for a huge new solar farm has led to the project being rethought, and the site given heritage protection status as a scheduled monument.
East Park Energy is in the planning stages of an ambitious solar farm project involving four sites to the northwest of St Neots, straddling the administrative boundaries of Bedford and Huntingdonshire. Between them, the proposed developments would generate up to 400 megawatts of energy – enough to power some 108,000 homes – as well as a battery storage facility to better manage demand and supply.
Photo by Hans Splinter
A formal planning application was expected to be submitted in the first quarter of 2025. In the current, pre-application stage, the company is required to consult with people and organisations in the local area and produce documentation showing the likely impact of the proposed development on the local environment. It’s through this latter process that the developers discovered Romans.
The remains have been discovered at one of the four proposed sites, near the village of Great Staughton. What’s more, the remains are extensive and intricate, including ditches, pits, post holes and gravel surfaces that are thought to represent roads or perhaps even yards. Together, these features provide evidence of a complex network of buildings and streets, providing us with a vivid sense of ancient urban life.
Further details can be gleaned from the wealth of artefacts recovered from the site, too, among them copper alloy and iron objects, pottery, glass, coins, bones and shells. There is evidence, too, of kilns and forges, and what seem to be a range of large pits – all suggestive of sizeable industrial activity. Experts from Historic England say that the course of streams leading from the nearby River Keam may have been altered to supply this early industry with water. It’s ironic that solar power, the cutting-edge technology of tomorrow, has opened up the technology of the ancient past.
In fact, historians have long suspected that an ancient settlement may have existed somewhere near Great Staughton, and arial photography conducted in 2019 identified elements of interest at this site. However, it was the geophysical survey carried out as part of the East Park Energy solar and storage park that demonstrated the size and importance of the ancient site.
Brockwell Storage & Solar, the developers working on the new solar farm, quickly recognised the value of what they’d found and applied for heritage protection for the site. This has been granted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, through advice from Historic England.
A statement on the East Park Energy website says that, given what’s been found, the company no longer proposes, ‘to build solar panels on any of the land that has been scheduled. We are instead proposing to seed the area where the remains have been found with species-diverse grassland, which would provide ecological benefits and help protect the site from cultivation for the lifetime of the project. Additionally, we will work with Historic England, Cambridgeshire County Council and the landowner on options for how we can maintain this important find into the future.’
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, says: ‘This was clearly a significant Roman town. The scale and diversity of the archaeological features give a remarkable insight into Roman life in the east of England and help us to understand more about when people came to this place, how they lived and worked, and why they left.’
Victoria Oleksy, Associate Director of the AOC Archaeology Group that conducted the site evaluation, adds: ‘It’s quite rare to find such an archaeologically significant site and on such a large scale. The potential for the site to add to our understanding of Roman settlement is considerable.’
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