Sacrewell Farm

Half a century ago, engineers digging a water pipeline through Sacrewell Farm in Cambridgeshire uncovered something extraordinary: a vast Roman villa and industrial complex hidden on the fertile north bank of the River Nene.

Excavations in the 1970s revealed intriguing glimpses of Roman life. Winged villa structures with painted plaster walls, tiled floors heated by furnaces, and at least eight iron-smelting furnaces, suggesting large-scale metalworking at the heart of what was once a major trade hub.

But beneath the Roman remains lay something older still: evidence of Bronze and Iron Age settlement, proving that people had been drawn to this area for thousands of years.

Despite these remarkable discoveries, the excavations were never completed, leaving the full story of the villa and its inhabitants unfinished.

Now, five decades later, DigVentures’ archaeologists are returning to relocate the original site, uncover new areas, and finally piece together the complete narrative of this landscape.