The creation of HS2 is the biggest infrastructure project in Europe. The first new intercity railway to be built north of London in over a century. Before building bridges, tunnels, tracks and stations, an unprecedented amount of archaeological work will take place along the line of route. HS2’s archaeology programme is the largest ever undertaken in the UK and the largest in Europe.

The sheer scale of possible discoveries, the geographical span of the project and the vast range of our history to be unearthed makes HS2’s historic environment programme a unique opportunity to tell the story of Britain, its past and future.

It's expected to find anything from prehistoric remnants and Roman settlements, to undiscovered battlefields and Victorian artefacts. 

60 sites along the HS2 Phase One route – 140miles – including three known burial grounds:

• A 1,000 year old demolished medieval church and burial ground in Stoke Mandeville.
• St James’s Gardens, London – an 18th & 19th century burial ground in Camden where it is estimated 60,000 people are buried.
• Park Street Gardens, Birmingham – an 18th & 19th Century burial ground in the city centre.