Relic hunter plans search for town ford (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Relic hunter plans search for town ford

AN archaeologist who helped unearth Roman remains at a school has announced plans to hunt for an original river crossing.

Mark Corney, of the University of Bristol, says his next major project will involve searching for evidence of a Roman ford in Bradford on Avon, after the historical discovery at St Laurence School.

The search will form part of a long-term scheme to map out and reconstruct what the area would have looked like in Roman times.

Mr Corney said: "My gut instinct is that the crossing is likely to be where the bridge is."

However he warned the exploration might prove fruitless because industrial use of the river could have wiped out any evidence of the crossing.

"The actual physical ford itself may never be recoverable because the river may have been dredged," he said.

Mr Corney has been working in the grounds of St Laurence School since remains of a Roman villa were found in 1999. Since the discovery, when rubble under the surface of the playing field turned out to be part of a Roman settlement, subsequent digs uncovered a villa, preserved mosaics and a bathhouse.

Mr Corney is applying for £60,000 funding, from bodies including the Promotion of Roman Studies, to fund the next stage of his work.