Ooh, I’ve just realised what sort of wonderful archaeology we’ll get, ahead of and during the construction of HS2 in the Northern Midlands… a real “slice through history” from The Trent at Stone – through to Keele and Crewe. Roman roads, previously unknown settlements, maybe even a few artifacts or perhaps a horde. Here’s hoping that the fenced off route will be opened up to citizen archaeologists and metal detectorists for a year ahead of actual ground-breaking construction, in areas not identified by the County archaeologists as being “reserved for the professionals”.