The surprise discovery of the villa, on fields near Dereham, was made by archaeologists investigating what lay beneath the soil on the route of the cables for energy company RWE's Vanguard West, East and Boreas wind farms.

The cables to carry the electricity generated by those farms to the National Grid are being buried in trenches stretching almost 40 miles from Happisburgh to Necton.

Experts looked at historic maps, archaeological records and research to establish if there was potential for buildings or objects under the ground and were not expecting to uncover anything on the site where the villa was found.

The Roman villa seen on a mapping system (Image: Denise Bradley)

But, during a check using magnetometry - which can spot if there are buried objects - it seemed some rubble lay below the ground.

However, Jessica Lowther, from Headland Archaeology, which excavated the site, said it soon became clear this was something more significant.

She said: "There was obviously something important under there, because they kept finding lots of roof tiles.

"Using ground penetrating radar they found that this was actually the site of a Roman villa.

"It's a large estate with lots of ancillary buildings. There were remains of a Roman road and also a bathhouse.

A Roman bath house found at the villa (Image: Denise Bradley)

"There's a lot of evidence for growing and processing food, so we think it was quite a large farming estate.

"There were bones of cats and dogs, which suggests they had those animals to help keep down pests."

Archaeologists who excavated the site, identifying the villa's stone walls, believe it took shape in phases between the 1st and 3rd centuries, reaching about 36 metres in length.

Roman period items discovered at the site included copper alloy hair pins and a brooch, nail cleaners, a military belt mount and an inscribed silver ring with graffiti on it.

A Roman copper alloy brooch (Image: Denise Bradley)

The 'star' object is a bronze tripod foot in the shape of a lion's head and foot, which would have formed the bottom of a chair.

A Roman bronze lion tripod foot, found during the excavations (Image: Denise Bradley)

But, perhaps the most intriguing find is a an ornate Roman bronze vessel handle in the shape of some sort of creature.

Unique to the site, it has been dubbed the 'Norfolk Nessie' because its shape resembles that of the monster said to lurk in the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland.

A Roman vessel handle, affectionately named the 'Norfolk Nessie', found during the excavations (Image: Denise Bradley)

Drawings, photographs and digital surveys were recorded at the villa site, before it was carefully reburied.

Along other sections of the route, an early Neolithic pit, dating to around 4000 to 2500 BC was found, along with a site where a Neolithic barrow mound - where prehistoric people placed cremated remains - would once have stood.

The archaeological team in the ditch of a barrow which was discovered (Image: Denise Bradley)

Prehistoric stone tools, including scrapers for cleaning and preparing animal skins, along with Bronze and Iron Age pottery and a coin dating from Iceni times - when British Queen Boudicca led a revolt against the Romans - were among other discoveries.

The top of a medieval Grimstone Ware jug (Image: Denise Bradley)

A number of medieval items, such as the top of a jug with faces on, were unearthed, while archaeologists believe they also found remains of two long lost medieval villages - called Whimpwell and Stinton.

How the Roman villa would have looked (Image: Denise Bradley)

Some of the finds were on display when RWE set up a marquee at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse on Friday and Saturday and invited the public and schools to check them out.

Heartwood Primary School children, from left, Callie-George, Bethany, and Harrison, look at an app showing how the Roman villa would have looked (Image: Denise Bradley)

Children got the chance to use an app to take a virtual tour of how the villa would have looked and to ask experts about the finds.

Some of the Roman pottery finds (Image: Denise Bradley)

Jon Darling, RWE project director for Vanguard West and East, said: "We are very excited to be able to share these discoveries with the local community.

"The archaeological campaign has revealed a remarkable story about how this landscape has changed over time, from prehistoric activity through to a Roman villa estate and beyond.”

© Eastern Daily Press