What a history lesson Iron Age remains found at new school site

Ancient remains believed to be up to 3,000 years old have been discovered at a school in south London.

Early Iron Age settlements and Roman burials of infants and animals were unearthed at the new site of Stanley Park High School in Sutton.

Among the findings are Romano-British enclosures and pits containing sheep, pigs, horses, goats and dogs as well as Iron Age features such as a possible droveway.

Experts said the findings have led them to believe that the area was once a small farming community with typical earth and timber roundhouses with thatched roofs.

Builders stumbled upon the remains when they were laying the foundations for the new school site, due to be finished in January 2012. Headteacher David Taylor said: "It is excellent that the school is part of such an important archaeological find and we are hoping to arrange for the experts to present some of their findings to the students Our local history work is about to get even more exciting."

Duncan Hawkins, lead archaeological consultant, said: "The excavations are certainly the most important ever undertaken in Sutton and very important in the context of Greater London where much of other evidence of these periods has been destroyed."