A settlement that could date back to Roman times has been unearthed by work on the TransPennine Route Upgrade between Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

A team of archaeologists have joined work crews and engineers as groundworks take place to lay new railway tracks.

Archaeological discoveries in Ravensthorpe have revealed a possible historic small settlement dating back to Roman times and environmental samples are now being analysed.

Archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology North have been looking at several sites between Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

Excavations at Heaton Lodge near Mirfield and Thornhill Lees Farm found post-medieval industrial archaeology in the form of earthworks along with other small-scale finds.

But it was the works in Ravensthorpe, where a new railway station is being built, that uncovered some archaeological mysteries.

Following initial work, further investigation of the site was required after the discovery of a large, irregularly shaped cropmark that was thought to be of a pre-historic date.

Last April saw a geophysical survey undertaken, which suggested that the hexagonal-shaped feature was most probably an Iron Age or Roman enclosure.

A collection of Roman ceramics, ceramic building materials, flint, glass and animal bones were all recovered at the site.

Site supervisor Catherine O’Doherty said: “We have a possible small-scale settlement with round house-like features and boundary ditches which yielded limited finds of a Roman date.

“This is interesting as sites such as this are limited in West Yorkshire, making this site an exciting discovery.”