During the construction of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, archaeologists have unearthed significant evidence of Anglo-Saxon presence in Holderness.
The ground-breaking early medieval discoveries were unearthed on the 30km corridor that houses the underground cables transmitting renewable energy from Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea, to the wind farm’s two onshore convertor stations off the A1079 near Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire.
Archaeologists have unearthed significant evidence of Anglo-Saxon presence in Holderness. Credit: AOC Archaeology
These significant discoveries include remnants of an Anglo-Saxon long hall structure between Beeford and Skipsea, and an Iron-Age or Anglo-Saxon glass bead recovered from a site in Ulrome. The two sites close to Beeford produced the most evidence for Anglo-Saxon activity.
Radiocarbon dating of the activity on these sites is ongoing, but at the moment an area of 5th-6th century activity associated with metalworking has been identified, close to a separate area where a long hall and field system ditches were recorded. The findings indicate Anglo-Saxons probably lived and farmed in this landscape over multiple phases between the 5th-11th centuries.
Radiocarbon dating is a scientific method for accurately determining the age of organic materials, by analysing the decay of radioactive isotopes. The developers of the windfarm have invested in this technique to ensure the project provides local communities and historians with accurate data about how the land was used hundreds of years ago.
Archaeologists recording an Iron Age round house. Credit: AOC Archaeology
Across the pipeline route archaeologists also discovered Iron Age and Roman evidence including well-preserved roundhouses in Ulrome, Beeford and Leven, a long-handled bone comb in Leven and significant amounts of handmade and wheel-thrown pottery.
It has long been clear the Holderness area was inhabited by the Anglo-Saxons due to the names of the towns and villages in the area, many of which incorporate Anglo-Saxon elements. Over recent years archaeological evidence has begun to emerge of Anglo-Saxon activity in the landscape, and the findings near Beeford add significantly to an emerging picture of Anglo-Saxon life in the region, greatly enhancing understanding of the period in Holderness.
The evidence for domestic and industrial activity that was unearthed at the sites, which has been evaluated and confirmed by medieval specialists, is of particular importance and significance. Since the excavations at Beeford, a team of experts from York University has excavated a nearby site in Skipsea, further confirming the presence of Anglo-Saxons in the local area, centuries ago.
Find out more about these historic findings by visiting our live online exhibition by clicking below.
A 6,000 year old flint arrowhead. Credit: AOC Archaeology
Intact pottery in situ, thought to be more than 2,000 years old. Credit: AOC Archaeology
In September 2024 we launched a series of community outreach activities to share our archaeological discoveries with the East Riding community – click below for more information.
Two public events, an online exhibition and a local history education pack that includes handmade artefact replicas, are just some of the ways we’ve reaching out to local people to create a long-term legacy for Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
The local education pack includes a 6,000-year-old flint arrowhead, an Iron Age or Anglo-Saxon glass bead, an Iron Age to Roman bone comb and pottery that is thought to date back more than 2,000 years.
Find out more about the local education pack here.
Our online exhibition giving the public a chance to explore our key discoveries on Dogger Bank Wind Farm from the comfort of their home is now live.
AOC Archaeology and Dogger Bank Wind Farm are currently considering options for permanently locating the original artefacts once they’ve been fully analysed, with a preference to find a home close to where they were unearthed.
Project Manager for AOC Archaeology, Rebecca Jarosz- Blackburn, said:
“For me the most surprising and rewarding discovery on this project was the Anglo-Saxon long hall and associated field systems we recorded near Beeford, which represents some of the most extensive evidence from the period in the Holderness region.
“Since then it’s exciting to see further evidence from the period emerge, including the recent discovery of another Anglo-Saxon long hall in Skipsea by researchers from York University.
“Together our work on Dogger Bank Wind Farm and this work by York University is adding significant bodies of evidence like Anglo-Saxon pottery, metalwork and industrial materials in a region where Anglo-Saxon evidence has historically been quite sparse.
“Anglo Saxon discoveries of this kind are really interesting, because they give an opportunity to look at the everyday lives of people from the period – including how they farmed and interacted with the landscape. Unlike a cemetery site, where you might find the brooches and more precious items, if you can identify an Anglo-Saxon farming or settlement site you get a rare chance to investigate more of the reality of life in the period.”
AOC Archaeology Project Manager Matt Walker, who grew up in East Yorkshire, also has a local connection to the Dogger Bank project. He said:
“One of the exciting outputs of the projects has been the volume of pottery coming out of our ditches – from some sites (including near Leven) there were wheelbarrows full of pottery.”
“The region is known for producing Iron Age to Roman pottery so this is not a surprise, and to date the pottery we have typologies giving date ranges based on the fabrics and styles etc.
“At Dogger Bank, one of our main research aims was to try and narrow the current date ranges for handmade prehistoric and Roman pottery in the region by using radiocarbon dating.
“It is the scale of this project across the region, coupled with funding for radiocarbon dates, that gives us a really meaningful opportunity to add to this research theme and advance our understanding of Holderness thousands of years ago.
“What we found in and around Burshill was the core of an Iron Age to Roman settlement that would not have been uncovered without this net zero development.
“There are more artefacts that we’re still analysing and we hope to provide further information about them as our understanding becomes clearer.”
Area shot of the Anglo-Saxon excavation. Credit: AOC Archaeology