Stanwick Lakes has secured £250,000 in funding to launch a major new Roman heritage project at the popular visitor destination in North Northamptonshire. The grant, awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will support a two-year programme designed to deepen understanding of Roman life in the Nene Valley while encouraging hands-on community involvement.
The project, titled From Iron to Empire, marks the first time Stanwick Lakes has focused specifically on its Roman past. Importantly, it builds on the success of an earlier heritage programme that explored the area’s Bronze and Iron Age history and attracted strong local engagement.
As part of the initiative, Stanwick Lakes will deliver a wide range of activities aimed at volunteers, schools and local residents. These will include practical learning sessions, creative workshops and public events that connect people directly with the site’s archaeological significance. As a result, organisers hope to broaden participation and reach new audiences across the region.
One of the central features will be the construction of a working replica Roman pottery kiln. This will allow visitors to see ancient production techniques in action and better understand everyday Roman industry. In addition, an experimental heritage garden will be created, showcasing Roman-era crops, herbs and plants grown using historically accurate methods.
Meanwhile, textile reconstruction will form another key strand of the project. Working alongside specialist practitioners and the Northants Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers, participants will recreate Romano-British textiles using traditional techniques. This collaborative approach is intended to combine expert knowledge with local enthusiasm.
A new villa viewpoint is also planned, overlooking the remains of one of the area’s most significant Roman villas. From this elevated position, visitors will be able to visualise the scale of Roman settlement and gain a clearer sense of the history beneath the landscape.
Nadia Norman, heritage coordinator at Stanwick Lakes, said the funding would unlock new ways of telling the site’s story. She explained that the support from the Lottery Fund would help showcase the area’s hidden Roman past through engaging and creative experiences that feel meaningful for both residents and visitors.
Stanwick Lakes is already recognised as a nationally important archaeological landscape, with evidence of more than 5,000 years of continuous settlement revealed during large-scale excavations in the 1980s. Alongside existing prehistoric features, the Roman heritage project will further strengthen its position as a leading outdoor heritage destination.
The programme will run through to 2026, continuing Stanwick Lakes’ long-standing commitment to community-led heritage work and volunteer involvement.
