An ancient Roman road that connected London to Essex has been discovered during regeneration work on the Beaumont Estate, Leyton.

The well-preserved find has caused a storm among archaeologists and it is hoped the underground discovery, off Capworth Street, will give clues to the level of traffic between London and Chelmsford during the Roman era.

Work to redevelop the estate has halted for a few days to allow a detailed examination of the road which is six metres wide, raised a metre off the ground and has a two-metre-wide ditch on either side.

Archaeologists are hoping to find objects that had fell off the back of carts travelling on the road.

Several Roman sites have been found in the area over the years, including graves in Temple Mills, a possible villa at Leyton Grange and Roman field systems around Oliver Close.

It was widely believed a Roman road ran somewhere through the estate following projected route lines from other discoveries in the area but archaeologists were not expecting to find it. Staff from Pre-Construct, a well-established independent archaeological company, were brought on board before construction work began to investigate areas of the estate where the new buildings were to be erected. The road was discovered three weeks ago.

Senior archaeologist Peter Moore said: "It's very exciting. We started by digging bore holes but in the vast majority of digs we found nothing.

"However, in this one area we found a hard, raised gravel surface which seemed like a Roman road. It's a substantial road and will be broken up to see how it was constructed.

"This is quite a major find and very important in the context of Waltham Forest. It's not as big as, say, the Romford Road, which is built on the Roman line of the main road between London and Essex, but it is significant.

"This one is different. Most modern roads are based on old Roman routes, but there's no main road near this one. We want to try and find out why it fell from use."

Archeologists are expected start excavation work at the weekend.

Construction work to transform the Beaumont Estate in a seven-year £28 million project started in April.