Archaeologists began work excavating the site at Bury Mount in Towcester on July 17 and an initial metal scan of one part of the area has already uncovered a number of Roman pieces, including an unusual carved disc believed to have been used in a board game similar to draughts.

Jim Brown, project officer for Northamptonshire Archaeology, said: "We haven't even started excavating the front section yet but we have carried out a metal scan and retrieved a number of Roman artefacts including some lead cloth seals, a fourth century Roman coin and a small gaming piece.

"The gaming piece is like a draught piece, and it is quite unusual, whereas you can expect to find musket balls all over the place.
"We are going to get an expert to examine it and give us an idea of what period it is from."

During a previous dig in October 2006, archaeologists found that there was more to the Mount than they had previously thought when they located a ditch, thought to be a moat, around the castle motte.

The second phase of the dig is to find out more about how the area was used, before work to regenerate the site begins.

Mr Brown said: "Ideally, we would really like to find remnants of any structure that was on top of the motte, get a good secure date on the ditch and work out what was going on in the civil war, but it is still early days."