Welcome to the Lancashire county pages. Lancashire is in the north-west of England and is a very archaeologically rich and diverse area, with finds from every period. Through the objects reported to PAS, the historical and archaeological map of Lancashire is changing – and indeed for many periods is actually being filled in. You can access the PAS database here where you can view finds and their details by period and by county.

On the rest of the PAS website, you can access advice on conservation and finds recording, and learn about the Treasure Act.

Details of all kinds of archaeology in Lancashire, from standing buildings to cropmarks to major excavations, can be found by contacting the Historic Environment Record Office here.

Important archaeological sites in Lancashire include:

• Pikestones, a ruined Neolithic burial cairn or long barrow on Anglezarke Moor. The cairn (or barrow) has now vanished, leaving the huge stones of the chamber.
• Other sites on Anglezarke Moor include Rushey Brow, where a Mesolithic working floor was found in the 1990s, and Round Loaf, a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age round barrow.
• Cheetham Close, once a circle of standing stones, but was deliberately damaged in the 1870s, before there was any legal protection for archaeological sites.
• Ribchester, perhaps the best-studied Roman site in Lancashire. The fort of Bremetennacum Veteranorum was founded in the 70s AD, and occupied until 378 AD, the date of the latest coin. The fort is now partly covered by the village of Ribchester, and has been known at least since 1796, when the Ribchester hoard and Ribchester helmet were found. They were acquired by the British Museum in 1814, but there is a replica of the helmet on permanent display at Ribchester Museum. Recent excavations have looked at the suburban settlement and the decline of the fort.
• Silverdale, where the famous Silverdale hoard (LANCUM-65C1B4) was found in 2011. The name ‘Silverdale’ (recorded as ‘Selredal’ in 1199) literally means silver valley, and was thought to refer to silver-grey rocks in the area. It is possible, though, that a previous silver hoard was found here in antiquity – or that there was a folk memory of burying our hoard – and that this gave the valley its name.
• St Patrick’s Chapel, Heysham, an Anglo-Saxon church with an extraordinary group of rock-cut graves.