A detectorist and historian from the television show Time Team will talk about some of the archaeological discoveries he has made at Broughton Castle at a special event this Saturday (July 19).

Keith Westcott will be speaking about, amongst other things, his discovery of the second-biggest Roman villa ever discovered in the UK.

The historian was a part of a team that found the remains of the villa in a field close to the castle-owned by the Fiennes family for more than 700 years, back in 2018.

Keith’s discovery of a 1,800 year old tile led the team to find the villa that was described as being of a similiar size to Buckingham Palace.

One of the Roman coins that was discovered at the dig near Broughton Castle.

placeholder image — One of the Roman coins that was discovered at the dig near Broughton Castle.

Following this, a further 178 items of significance were found, including coins, a pendant, a key and a very large tusk from a wild boar.

The discovery of the 2,000 year-old villa and other artifacts led popular archaeology televsion series Time Team to bring out a special episode about the dig at the castle in 2022.

The Time Team’s dig revealed that the villa was most likely to have been a big, agricultural operation to grow and supply grain for the Roman armies spread across Europe.

This Saturday, Keith will be talking guests through his finds in the Great Hall at Broughton Castle at 7pm.

Visitors are welcome to attend from 5pm, and there will be a cash bar for wine and soft drinks. Guests are also invited to picnic in the grounds before the event.