THOUSANDS of Roman artefacts discovered by amateur archaeologists in a North- East river are likely to stay in the region, the British Museum said.

This week, the London museum is starting the process of cataloguing the 2,000-plus piece collection of jewellery, coins, pottery and other remains, ahead of a treasure inquest.

Once the inquest has been completed, staff at the British Museum hope the collection can be housed in one of the region’s museums.

The collection was discovered by County Durham divers Bob Middlemass and Rolfe Mitchinson, in the River Tees, in Piercebridge, near Darlington.

The pair have been diving at the spot, near the remains of two Roman bridges, for more than 25 years and have amassed the collection over that time.

It is believed to be the single largest collection of votive offerings in the country thrown into the water by Romans as a way of appeasing the gods.

Dr Philippa Walton, the acting national finds advisor (portable antiquities scheme) at the British Museum, said she was looking forward to beginning work on cataloguing the collection.

She first became interested in the pieces in 2003 when she was working in the North- East.

“Other collections are mostly coins thrown into a well.

This collection is important, not only because of its size, but also the range, from coinage to jewellery,” she said.

“I’ve only ever seen the collection in bits and pieces. It will be brilliant to see all the pieces in London and have them all in one place at one time. It will be amazing.”

Once the cataloguing is finished, which is expected to take six to eight months, the collection will be sent back to County Durham for a treasurer inquest.

The inquest will decide whether the collection constitutes treasure and give it a value.

Dr Walton said: “Hopefully, after that, the pieces can go to a local museum.

“There’s no intention of the collection staying at the British Museum.

“It’s just a way of making sure that we’ve got a proper inventory of everything that’s there and that enables the coroner to decide whether it’s treasure or not.”