Archaeologists have discovered a number of historical artefacts as part of work to build the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm near Suffolk.

ScottishPower Renewables originally commissioned Wardell Armstrong to oversee archaeological works across 60 hectares of countryside before construction work begins to install a 37km underground connection cable for the 102-turbine development.

With up to 400 archaeologists having been involved in the work since February, experts have dug up evidence of residential dwellings and artefacts from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman period, Anglo-Saxons and into the medieval period.

Other discovered items include tools, coins, fragments of green-glazed face jugs and fragments of Bronze Age cooking pots.

Joanna Young, Stakeholder Manager at ScottishPower Renewables, said: "Hundreds of archaeologists and metal detectorists combing over fields in Suffolk is not the first thing you think of when you imagine an offshore windfarm - but it highlights the wide range of efforts needed to build a major energy project like ours.

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"We decided early on to invest in underground cables to take power from the offshore windfarm to the National Grid, rather than building pylons. This means laying cables under the ground and roads and rivers and railways across a 37km stretch. We need to make sure that we do this work in a sensitive manner, and it is important to record all items of archaeological significance.

"The East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm will provide a boost for the local economy, supporting jobs and training opportunities for decades to come, as well as helping the Government to achieve its ambitions of a low carbon future. It is an added bonus that this project for the future has helped to uncover more detail about Suffolk's rich past."

Richard Newman Post-Excavation Manager at Wardell Armstrong, said: "It is not often that archaeologists get access to such a vast corridor of land, and the project has been fascinating.

"All of the finds will now be analysed further, and detailed reports will be produced, but it is safe to say we already know a lot more about Suffolk's history today than we did a year ago.”."

The 102-turbine East Anglia ONE windfarm will provide clean energy to power the equivalent of almost 600,000 homes once fully operational during 2020.

The cable laying project for the scheme will begin in the next few months, and construction work is already underway at the onshore substation site in Bramford. Offshore work will start in 2018, with turbines due to be installed in 2019.

(LM/MH)