Burscough Roman Fort

Burscough Roman Fort is a 1st-century AD auxiliary fort near Burscough in West Lancashire, the most significant Roman discovery in the county for over a century. The 3-hectare site was built in at least two phases: an initial sandstone fort measuring 160 metres long with a shallow rampart, and a later forlet positioned over the east gate. First discovered in 2003 when sandstone blocks were displaced during agricultural work, the fort was confirmed through electrical resistance surveys in 2018 and LiDAR imagery analysis by Historic England in 2020, which revealed crop marks and earthworks. Excavations in 2014-2015 uncovered a buttressed structure resembling granaries found at other Roman forts.