The exciting archaeological finds at The Prospect in Ross-on-Wye are to go on view to the public during December.
Work began in May this year to repair the Grade II listed 300-year-old perimeter wall of the historic Prospect garden.
Archaeological work in advance of the repairs has been undertaken by Border Archaeology on behalf of Herefordshire Council, and has led to a number of unexpected discoveries on the site.
The first discovery was the remains of an unusual Roman building near the south west corner of The Prospect.
The thick walls and circular form of the building suggest it may have been a tower positioned to overlook the River Wye.
Between June and October this year more than 1,000 people viewed the Roman building from a specially constructed viewing platform. The remains were protected by a large temporary structure,
To complete the reinstatement of the perimeter wall while preserving the Roman remains, it unfortunately proved necessary to fell a nearby Wellingtonia tree.
Following the removal of the tree in October, work then resumed to enable the full run of the south-facing section of the wall to be rebuilt.
Additional archaeological excavations are now ongoing prior to the construction of the re-positioned wall.
A further archaeological trench was also dug nearby to see how far the Roman remains extended. As well as more Roman finds, this trench also unexpectedly revealed a large Medieval stone wall.
This wall is believed to be part of the former Medieval Bishop's Palace which was known to exist in the area, but whose precise location had not previously been identified.
The discoveries at the Prospect are rewriting the history of the town.
The Prospect now has remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman site and
an 800-year-old Bishop's Palace to place alongside its known
historic importance as one of the region's earliest public
gardens.
Both the Roman and Bishop's Palace remains have been protected by
temporary covering structures with raised viewing platforms, and
the remains will be open to the public between 10am and 4pm from
Friday, December 5, to Saturday, December 20.