RELICS from the Bronze Age have been uncovered by archaeologists digging on the site of a planned reservoir.

Pottery and evidence of settlements, dating as far back as 2700BC, have been found at Mill House Farm, in Chadwell St Mary.

The two-year dig – carried out after test excavations in 2010 revealed late Bronze Age and early Iron Age pottery – is due to end this week.

As well as the pottery, ring ditches, enclosure ditches, gullies, pits and postholes where buildings would once have stood have been found.

Landowner CH Cole and Sons, which grows veg for major supermarkets, was given planning permission to dig an agricultural reservoir on the site, provided archaeologists could explore the site first.

Chadwell resident and amateur archaeologist Michael Looker, 71, has been helping on site over the past two years.

He said: “It’s a large Bronze Age site and we dug up half of it last year and the other half this year.

“As well as the Bronze Age finds, there’s also evidence of a Saxon settlement on the same site. It’s an important site for Essex and the local area.”