Archaeologists excavating land for a proposed housing development say they have made some significant finds.

The team from Oxford Archaeology North (OAN) said the site in Lancashire has evidence of an Iron Age settlement and Roman occupation as well.

Mr Dunn said like other Iron Age excavations in the county the dig at Thornton, near Blackpool, had revealed round houses with their surrounding ditches, but the discovery of Iron Age bowls and Roman pottery marked it out from other excavations.

He added: "Lancashire was wet with marshland and settlements tended to be on a hill.

“It is a significant site because there of signs of a long occupation from the Iron Age to Roman Britain.”