Local archaeologists are getting increasingly excited that an historic breakthrough has finally been made in locating an almost 200-year-old route linking the town with Manchester.

Finding this and two other suspected routes to Warrington and Preston would confirm the belief that Wigan was the Roman settlement of Coccium.

It is an excavation in the playing fields of Ince CE School that has caused a stir amongst members of Wigan Archaeological Society.

These digs are the final phase of a project which has involved the many Wigan schools. The Ince youngsters had been invited to explore an area 6m by 2m and while it drew a blank - only colliery residue was found - it inspired the archaeologists to explore further.

They then opened up a new site closer to George Street and this is where the road section was discovered at a depth of about 1m.

It consisted of a band of mixed gravel, grey-blue clay/brown clay and cobbles and flat stones about 50cm thick at the south west side tapering to 20cm on the north east ending in a ditch-like feature.

A society spokesman said: "The exposed section was 4.5m wide and if we assume the thickest end is the centre then the road could be assumed to be 9m wide (with the south west end lining up with the centre of George St).

"It appears the houses on the north east side of George St were built right on top of the section with the red sand being used to level the ground prior to construction. Further excavations are planned so that full extent and direction can be determined. If it can be confirmed that this is the Roman road it certainly would be great find for the society."

An ordnance survey map from 1849 shows two dotted lines running from across Amberswood Common to Common Nook.

The map was drawn up by Edmund Sibson, who had also traced routes from Wigan to Warrington and Preston. The Wigan Archaeological Society also found hints of the road during a dig in 2003 at Walmsley Park, Ince.

An old map of the North West shows Coccium from Roman times but it has
not yet been conclusively proved that it is Wigan.

But the more evidence of Roman remains – and there is a growing amount of it in the Millgate area of the town centre – the greater the chance that Wigan was home to Roman invaders towards the end of their occupation.