 A Roman 'ladder settlement' was discovered by Channel Four's Time Team programme in 2003, in fields just to the west of Sedgefield.It consisted of rows of crofts and workshops on either side of a north-south trackway, which could be securely dated by the many finds of Roman coins.St Edmund's church in Sedgefield is noted for its ornate 17th-century Cosin woodwork, unique to County Durham after the furnishings in Brancepeth were destroyed in a fire.