WHITCHURCH's historic past has been unearthed by archaeologists, with Roman artefacts being uncovered.

The town may be known as a market town today, but Whitchurch was once a Roman settlement known as Mediolanum, and items from that period currently reside in the Heritage Centre.

Aeon Archaeology, run by Rich Cooke, undertook the dig, on the site of a new house in Pepper Street.

Rich's dig uncovered assorted pieces of Roman ceramic, as well as pottery from Gaul, today known as France.

"The small excavation slot revealed preserved Roman stratigraphy including the edge of a cobbled trackway, pressed into which was a fragment of Roman tegula (roof tile)," said Rich.

"Alongside this trackway the land sloped eastward into a ditch which produced an array of Roman ceramics including Holt Oxidised Ware, Black Burnished 1, Colchester Black Burnished 2, Gaulish Amphora 1 (Flat Based), Greyware, Severn Valley Ware Oxidised, Severn Valley Ware Reduced, Severn Valley Ware Organically Tempered, and Wilderspool (White Slipped).

Perhaps of most interest however was the decorated Samian Ware pottery.

"The first depicts a crouched rabbit or hare, possibly as part of a hunting scene, and originated in Heiliburg in Eastern Gaul.

"The second is a fragment of a large bowl in a Chemery Falquemont fabric, depicting a hunting scene with a hound giving chase.

"Both fragments date between the late first and early third century AD.

Meanwhile, Rich has also been investigating the site of a Medieval settlement in Erbistock.

The dig site, at Old Hall Farm, revealed various artefacts from the 13th and 14th centuries, and ground radar shows the area used to be part of a much larger settlement.

"The trench revealed the preserved remains of several stone walls of medieval date and a probable building footprint, within which deep stratigraphy was encountered to a depth of 1.08m below ground level," said Rich.

"The evaluation showed that the site had been previously stripped down to the natural glacial substrata, most likely in the medieval period, and successive layers of redeposited clay placed across the site as levelling material and as part of construction at the site.

"Several relict ground surfaces and metalled surfaces were encountered and the majority of the levelling clay layers produced medieval ceramic that was produced from the mid-13th century and throughout the medieval period.

"In addition an iron knife and cleaver blade were found, the former of which was possibly of medieval date based on 13th to 14th century parallels.

"When the site is viewed within a landscape context using Lidar in order to remove vegetation, a far larger medieval site can be observed.

"The evaluation trench occupies an area within the northwest of the moated platform, the moat for which is clearly fed by a leat leading northeast from a stream tributary of the River Dee.

"The moated settlement is to be seen as very much an English cultural phenomenon, no doubt partly with a practical, defensive purpose as well as symbolising the status or social aspirations of its builder."