Elmswell Farm

Located near Driffield, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, our dig site is right on the banks of an ancient river set among beautifully maintained farmland, approximately one day’s march from a number of key Roman forts in the area.

We were invited to assess the site after three metal detectorists uncovered a hoard of 18 silver coins and reported it to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Several excavations later, we now know that the hoard was just one small remnant of a much wider Roman settlement, with buildings, mosaics, more silver coins, hundreds of Roman pottery sherds, and a tiny brooch, found on one of three infant burials.

Excitingly, many of the finds date to the middle of the first century AD, it appears to be one of the earliest Roman settlements ever discovered in East Yorkshire.