Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Archaeologists have uncovered significant evidence of a Roman industrial hub on the banks of the River Wear at Offerton, near Sunderland in North East England. During recent excavations, over 800 whetstones—stone bars used to sharpen bladed tools and weapons—and 11 stone anchors were discovered. The project was led by the Vedra Hylton Community Association with support from our Department of Archaeology.
Sediment Analysis Supports Dating The Site ToThe Roman Period
This find represents the largest known collection of whetstones from this period in North West Europe, highlighting North East England’s important role within Roman Britain’s manufacturing and trade networks.
A single bar-shaped wheetstone showing a toolmark. Credit: Durham University
To verify that these artifacts dated to the Roman era, archaeologists conducted Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) testing on sediment layers containing the whetstones. OSL is a scientific method used to determine when minerals such as quartz were last exposed to sunlight by measuring energy stored while buried. When stimulated in a laboratory setting, these minerals emit a faint glow that reveals how long they have been underground.
Major Production Hub
The OSL results showed that sediment directly below the whetstone layer dates between 42-184 AD, while samples from within the layer itself date between 104-238 AD—firmly placing them within Britain’s Roman period.
Whetstones played an essential role across all aspects of Roman life—including domestic use, commerce, agriculture, industry, medicine, and military activities. The sheer number and well-preserved condition of those found at Offerton suggest it was likely a major production center during this time.
Additionally, researchers identified a corresponding sandstone outcrop on the opposite side of the riverbank. This may be Britain’s first known example where stone was deliberately quarried for large-scale whetstone production at a Roman site.
Alongside more than 800 excavated whetstones so far, experts believe hundreds or even thousands more remain buried along this stretch of riverbank.
Credit: Keith Cockerill
The collection of whetstones discovered includes pieces at various stages of production, ranging from roughly shaped stones with visible tool marks to those featuring smooth surfaces and finished edges. Among the finds were 65 ‘doubles’—whetstones still joined together before being split—as well as a rare ‘treble’. All recorded whetstones show signs of damage and were likely discarded during manufacturing because they no longer met the required length, reflecting the Roman Army’s strict standards for equipment uniformity.
In addition to the whetstones, the fieldwork team uncovered five stone anchors in 2025. In 2022, six stone anchors were found in a nearby section of the river. This brings the total number of stone anchors recovered from this northern European river site to eleven—the highest number ever found at such a location. The team suggests these anchors may have been used by river vessels transporting sandstone slabs across the river for whetstone production.
Credit: Durham University
In addition to whetstones and stone anchors, the team uncovered several significant artifacts: a post-medieval wooden jetty structure alongside an earlier stone-built jetty, various tools such as chisels and stone splitters, a leather shoe dating back to Tudor times, and iron and stone cannonballs as well as lead shot from the period of the English Civil Wars. Together, these findings could extend our understanding of human activity along this section of the River Wear by more than 1,800 years.
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The excavations, which took place across six months in 2025, are featured in the new series of Digging for Britain on BBC Two and iPlayer.
Source: Durham University
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer