TWO Roman quarries have been discovered by archaeologists on the site of a cement works.

Chalk has been excavated from Barrington quarry for around 80 years - but it now seems our Roman ancestors had the same idea nearly 2,000 years ago.

An archaeological team from Cambridge University made the discovery after they were called in by Cemex, which owns the quarry and adjacent cement works.

The firm was required by planning regulations to bring in the team before extracting chalk in a new part of the quarry.

Archaeologists identified two dark areas among the clean white chalk which turned out to be ancient, beehive-shaped, small-scale Roman quarry workings.

Fragments of pottery found enabled archaeologists to date the workings back to Roman times.

They believe machinery was used to excavate a local hard chalk building stone, known as clunch, before backfilling the site with soil.

Clunch would probably have been used for use in building foundations.

The team also found evidence that tools such as chisels had also been used.

A spokeswoman from Cemex said: "While it is well-known that chalk has been excavated in Barrington as long as cement has been produced here - for nearly 80 years - it now seems likely that the tradition of excavating chalk for building materials on-site was started by our predecessors 1,800 years ago.

"Although there is no evidence in Barrington quarry of any substantial ancient structures, this recent Roman find is consistent with other finds, such as drainage and boundary ditches, that archaeologists have unearthed in other parts of South Cambridgeshire.

"It enhances our knowledge of local history and shows that Barrington has long been a rich source for building materials."

Cemex UK Operations announced earlier this month it was suspending an application to build a new cement plant at its site because of uncertainty over the future of CO2 strategy in the UK.