Five years ago, my tea break – at the UK National Archives in Kew – was interrupted by an archaeologist who wanted my help. Could I help them locate archives about a ruined church that might have to be excavated ahead of the construction of HS2? Working at high speed (for me) I duly produced a report so that when and if the time came, someone could do more research in the archives while the diggers dug in a muddy field. It was the first of several fascinating commissions. There were numerous surprising things about this site, but what the archaeologists found beneath the church was totally unforeseen! HS2: Anglo-Saxon church found at Stoke Mandeville excavation site

We have fantastic historical archives in the UK, with a wealth of stories yet to be discovered. Archivists have done a lot to enable access to what often survives rather haphazardly from the past 1000 years, but documents are not often ‘tagged’ with a precise geographical location. So, finding evidence relating to a narrow strip of countryside from London to Birmingham to Crewe is more difficult than it sounds. High quality mapping has only been available for about 200 years, so I had to find written sources like charters and terriers that could be used as substitutes for maps. It calls for some lateral thinking as well as accumulated knowledge.

Another HS2 site in the Midlands turned out to be documented in Chancery Exhibits – evidence presented in court cases and now preserved in the National Archives at Kew.