AN archaeological dig in the Meon Valley saw scores of volunteers help to excavate the site of a Roman temple.

Around 60 history enthusiasts wielded their trowels at the dig in Exton, which was organised by the Meon Valley Archaeology and Heritage Group with support from undergraduates at Winchester University.

A geophysical survey of the site near Beacon Hill Lane carried out in 2015 by the group revealed a hexagonal shaped structure which is very rare in Roman Britain.

Since then, teams of students and community volunteers, led by Professor Tony King, have slowly unearthed the foundations of the building, thought to be a temple.

The work has also led to an adjacent room being revealed, believed to be a bathhouse, as well as artefacts from the Roman period and Iron Age.

This year the plan has been to extend both the main and extension trenches to the east, as well as the excavation of the main site.

Volunteer Joan Terry excavated a late Iron Age, early Roman pot - an indication that the site was occupied a couple of centuries before the building of the Roman hexagonal temple.