Council mistake halts Ipswich Cornhill archaeology dig

Archaeologists digging trenches ahead of a town centre revamp have been forced to fill them in after just 24 hours.

Two trenches were dug on Monday to investigate Ipswich's Cornhill area.

However, by Tuesday contractors were told the bricks would all need to be put back when the council realised the ditches might get in the way of a festival and parade next month.

They said work could begin again after the event.

An Ipswich Borough Council spokesman said: "We are taking this dig extremely seriously, and if we had discovered something of note we could not guarantee to have everything back in place safely for this community event in early September."

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The investigative work was scheduled to take place ahead of a £3m redevelopment of the Cornhill, which will start in January and see the creation of a water feature and sculpture.

Archaeologists were expected to be working in a fenced-off area for two weeks but the dig was halted after just one day.

"[The] work on Ipswich's Cornhill has been postponed to allow a town centre procession and festival to take place early next month," the council spokesman added.

"As a result, we will start the dig after that as there is no impact on the timing of the Cornhill project."