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Archaeologists have found evidence of a huge and previously unknown industrial hub of Roman manufacturing in a discovery seen as one of the most significant finds in northern England for a century.
Researchers were astonished to discover more than 800 whetstones at a site on the banks of the River Wear, and evidence of there being hundreds, if not thousands, more buried in the riverbank.
Whetstones are stone bars that were used to sharpen bladed tools and weapons and were ubiquitous in the Roman empire. Every soldier would have needed to use one.
About 250 whetstones have been discovered in the British Isles, said the project leader, Gary Bankhead, an honorary fellow of Durham University. “So for us to suddenly find at least 800 and very likely many hundreds if not thousands more … it is staggering.”
The find is the largest known whetstone discovery in north-west Europe, one that places north-east England firmly in Roman Britain’s sophisticated manufacturing and trade network.
The theory is that the Offerton site, near Sunderland, was a production hub for whetstones using sandstone quarried on the north riverbank and transported to the southern, flatter bank to be made into bars.
Bankhead said Offerton’s location made it an ideal trading place with river-going vessels able to transport the whetstones to somewhere they could be loaded on to sea-going vessels and taken to other parts of the British Isles and the near continent.
The discovery of 11 stone anchors, the largest number found at any northern European river site, adds weight to the theory about Offerton’s place as an important industrial hub for the Romans.
Bankhead said one of the most significant aspects of the new discoveries is that it puts Sunderland on the Roman map for the first time. “It is only 10 miles or so south of Hadrian’s wall so you would expect the Romans to be in Sunderland, but there has been virtually no archaeological evidence,” he said.
All the recorded whetstones are damaged, which makes sense as the perfect stones would have been transported away from Offerton.
“We’ve found the broken ones, the off-cuts,” said Bankhead. “The second it fractures, it’s useless, it can’t be used, which is why they remain there.”
All the evidence suggests Offerton is the first Roman site found in Britain where stone was deliberately quarried for whetstone production.
The Offerton site was discovered and excavated by volunteer enthusiasts from the Vedra Hylton community association, helped by Durham University researchers and students.
Bankhead said the discovery would help to rewrite our understanding of Roman Britain. “This is a really important discovery,” he said. “It has to be one of the most significant Roman archaeological discoveries in the north of England in the last hundred years.”
The discovery will be featured in an episode of BBC Two’s Digging for Britain, with all episodes available on iPlayer from 7 January.
Eleri Cousins, an assistant professor in Roman archaeology at Durham University, said it was an exciting discovery with the potential “to make a significant addition to our understanding of manufacturing and industry in Roman Britain, particularly in the militarised north of the province”.
Michael Mordey, the leader of Sunderland city council, said “ships, coal, pottery, glass and cars” had all been made on the banks of the Wear by generations of Sunderland families.
“This work has revealed yet another generation of makers who have shaped the industrious city we are today,” he said.
“This shines a whole new light on the role Sunderland may have played in the Roman empire, presenting an exciting opportunity to learn new things from our rich historical past. This has been a remarkable effort by all involved and I’m sure I speak for the entire city when I say we can’t wait to find out more about what this research reveals.”
