The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded Ipswich Borough Council a project planning grant to pay for the investigations needed before restoration work began at Holywells Park. Wessex Archaeology excavated a number of trial trenches to record old surfaces and structures hidden under the ground. These remains tell us more about the history of the park, and the archaeological results were fed back into the renovation plans.

Blenheim Palace was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and built between 1705 and 1722.The estate was landscaped by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in the 1760s. But the history of the estate actually goes back over 6,000 years.

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Historic Landscape Management for the Blenheim Estate and the Countryside Agency, to report on the condition of significant archaeological sites and monuments on the estate.

Wessex Archaeology worked for Frogmore Developments Ltd on the archaeological excavation at 60 & 63 Fenchurch Street in the City of London EC3. The site was redeveloped to provide a prestigious new office building. The excavation revealed medieval and Roman remains and was completed in August 2002. All archaeological remains were removed from the site prior to construction of the new building.

Springhead in Kent was Wessex Archaeology’s longest-running and most prolific excavation. Around 30 archaeologists spent more than two years working at the site, finding more than 150,000 objects, ranging from axe heads dating to 300,000BC to a small hoard of Medieval silver pennies. The site was described as ‘an archaeologist’s dream’.

In 2005 Southern Water Services commissioned Wessex Archaeology to carry out the excavation of archaeological remains along the route of two new pipelines. More than 650 finds and sites were recorded, most between Manston airfield and Weatherlees Wastewater Treatment Works during these works.