LOCAL archaeologists have taken advantage of the roadworks in Agincourt Square, which have caused massive problems for the town, to uncover magical results underground.

It has long been thought that the Normans had destroyed any evidence of previous occupation, when they removed the top surface of the square to build a mound for an 11th century wooden castle.

But archaeologists, led by Stephen Clarke, digging in a hole created by council contractors, have shown that Roman and Norman levels lie undisturbed not far below the road surface - providing evidence of a wooden building and pottery spanning over 1,000 years.

Agincourt Square lies inside one of the first Roman forts to be built in Wales, some 25 years before the founding of Caerleon. The square is also inside the Norman Bailey of only the second stone castle to be built in Britain, but there has never been an archaeological excavation in the immediate area.

The weekend excavations in the small trench contained pieces of worn Roman pottery, bone and iron slag which dates from the Second to the Fourth Centuries. The soil in the immediate area appears to have been cultivated until a slot for a timber building foundation was cut into the ground.

A sherd of a limestone-tempered cooking pot made in the Vale of Gloucester (Cotswold Ware) is similar to pottery found previously in the Norman houses of Monnow Street.

There were also fragments of cooking pots made in the 12th and 13th centuries, including one locally made and another from the Malvern Hills. The discoveries came after contractors had pulled up the Agincourt Square cobbles, and just days after Mon-mouthshire County Council held a public meeting to discuss the roadworks issue.

The meeting got off to a bad start when the public were told that the works taking place immediately outside the Shire Hall on the cobbles was not up for discussion.

Jenny Lewis, the council's Area General Manager, explained that they were concentrating on the blocks further along the Square, which caused the town to become gridlocked the previous week whilst putting the Safe Routes To School scheme under trial.

Mrs Lewis went on to outline that discussions between the council and Cadw, the previous day, had come up with the concept of putting in a new crossing from the Rolls Statue to an area across the road towards Barclays Bank.

She added that without being able to consider the proposals, it was inappropriate to discuss the two issues together. The audience disagreed.

However, a market trader suggested that this meeting could 'in theory' come to an agreement on whether or not the proposals at the top end of Agincourt Square should be implemented, if a crossing from the cobbles to Barclays Bank area of the square would be more suitable than narrowing the width of the square opposite Woolworths.

Stephen Porter, owner of the bookshop in Church Street said: "If Cadw and the local authority are considering implementing a crossing, this surely effects the thinking behind the scheme to alter the road layout." Mrs Lewis concluded by saying that they would be using the comments and views made at the meeting as part of the consultation exercise over the Safe Routes to School scheme.