BRONZE Age and Roman coins and artefacts dating back up to 3,000 years have been discovered near Colchester.

Archaeologists unearthed evidence of settlements while digging ahead of the £20million water pipeline project close to Abberton Reservoir.

Some of the artefacts found include Roman coins, as well as pottery from the Iron and Bronze Ages.

One of the coins is believed to depict the Roman Emperor Valentinian I, who ruled from 364 to 375AD.

Benjamin Sleep, senior heritage consultant at engineering consultants Stantec, said: “These types of pipeline schemes are fascinating in terms of unearthing local history and objects of cultural significance.

“These findings, which range from hundreds to thousands of years ago, will deepen our knowledge of archaeology in the area.”

The team from Oxford Archaeology found evidence of farmsteads and settlements embedded in the earth.  

More information about the discoveries will be made publicly available, and it is hoped that some of the artefacts will eventually end up in local museums.

A spokesman from Oxford Archaeology said: “Our archaeological works along the pipeline have revealed further exciting evidence of how well-settled the county of Essex has been throughout history, and provides us with valuable insight into the local history.”

Each find must be logged and photographed before construction of the pipeline is allowed to continue.

The pipeline is being built by Essex and Suffolk Water from Layer de la Haye to Langford, near Maldon.

Daniel Wilson, project manager at Essex and Suffolk Water, said: “We’re investing £20million into this pipeline, which will add resilience to water supplies for around 370,000 of our customers across Essex.

“The area is so rich in history that we felt it was important to build archaeological investigations into our programme of the works.

He added: “We always expected the teams would find something given the history in the area, but seeing the items removed from the ground and the story of the area evolve has been fascinating.”

When complete, the pipeline will carry 20 million litres of pressurised water every day.

The building work is scheduled to be completed by autumn 2024.