Archaeological finds in A66 project go on tour

Archaeological treasures unearthed in a dig near one of Cumbria's busiest roads are being displayed in a tour.

Rare preserved Roman shoes, decorative jewellery, prehistoric stone tools and a Roman statuette are among the finds uncovered by the Oxford Cotswold Archaeology team as part of work on the A66 between Penrith and Scotch Corner.

A free exhibition at Warcop, Appleby, Kirkby Thore, Penrith and Carlisle will show hundreds of items found in excavations which started last year.

Oxford Archaeology project manager, Helen Evans, said the discoveries gave "tantalising glimpses" of how people in the Eden Valley worked the land, their beliefs, tools they used and how they dressed.

Academics have known about a Roman grave on the site near Penrith since the 1960s but have never been able to dig there so extensively.

Initial trenches were dug in 2024 and were followed by larger, wider-scale digs which involved more than 75 archaeologists and more than 66 hectares (163 acres) of excavation.

Oxford Cotswold Archaeology said it had worked with National Highways to conduct full-scale excavations along a 21‑mile (33km) stretch of the route since January 2025.

Starting at Warcop Parish Hall on 3 October, the museum heads to Appleby Public Hall on 10-11 October, Kirkby Thore Memorial Hall on 24-25 October, Penrith Rooms on 30-31 October and Carlisle's Tullie Museum on 14-15 November.

Alan Ford, who is the project heritage lead for AtkinsRealis, said the team knew "we were going to essentially re-write what we understood about how human settlement has developed in the upper Eden valley over millennia".

"Those expectations have been matched and surpassed with identification of a fascinating history that spans almost 12,000 years," Ford added.

Evans said: "The discoveries we've made along the A66 provide tantalising glimpses of the past occupants of the Eden valley.

"There's plenty of questions also, but the scattered clues people have left behind will let us piece together the history of this amazing landscape."

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