Press release

Public invited to Archaeology Open Day

Public are invited on guided archaeological tour.

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Members of the public are being invited on a guided tour of the archaeological sites discovered as part of the A1 Leeming to Barton improvement scheme.

A number of artefacts will be displayed at the meeting site before groups are escorted to Fort Bridge by guides.

Tours will leave from the meeting point at Catterick Racecourse car park every 20 minutes between 10am and 3pm on Saturday 23 July.

An archaeological team of around 60 people have been working along the A1 between Leeming Bar and Barton for two years as part of a Highways England scheme to install an extra lane in each direction and improve the route to motorway standards.

During that time, archaeologists have uncovered more than 200,000 finds and sieved more than 84 tonnes of sediment samples.

This is the second open day held at the site in the past month. In June members of the public were invited to the site to learn more about the opportunities provided by the construction industry as part of the national Open Doors event.

Highways England Project Manager, Tom Howard, said:

Holding events like these gives us a great opportunity to meet with the local community and offer the public an insight into what we do. We’re working really hard to keep local people and road users informed about progress with the project as well as different phases of the scheme.

The archaeology open day will be a chance for anyone with an interest to come and have a look at the historical work we have been doing, and to talk to our experts face to face.

Once completed, the A1 Leeming to Barton scheme will create a continuous motorway-standard route between London and Newcastle (including the M1 and A1M). It will also improve journey times and increase safety.

An exhibition of archaeological finds from the A1 excavations is also on show at Richmondshire Museum, in Ryders Wynd, until 31 October 2016.

Anyone who would like to take part in a guided tour of the archaeological sites on Saturday 23 July should email enquiries@a1l2b.com or phone 01677 932348.

More details are available on the scheme website.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Updates to this page

Published 11 July 2016