Stuart Robinson met the local enthusiasts determined to uncover the area's secret heritage

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Gipton, Seacroft, Halton Moor – all old school working class areas that epitomize what east Leeds is all about.

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But scratch the surface just a stone's throw from some of the city's grittiest council estates, and you'll also find thousands of years of history buried beneath.

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That's what Kathy Allday discovered after getting hooked on archaeology when she attended some local night classes.

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Since then, her and a diehard and group of local history fanatics at the Leeds Archaeological Fieldwork Society (LAFS) have been scouring the whole district, determined to expose with boundless enthusiasm the secret history that many local residents are completely oblivious to.

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Kathy told the YEP: "It all started with me just doing some night classes about ten years ago and I was hooked right from the off. The first dig we got involved in came after we got chatting to a farmer at Austhorpe Hall in Austhorpe and began doing some fieldwork.

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"On our very first site we discovered a huge triple ditched enclosure that was probably a Roman encampment and what looks like a Bronze Age barrow.

"The excitement when we saw what we'd found was amazing. For us that's what it's all about – we want to get out in the field and have fun.
It's very much like playing detective and I think that's a big part of the appeal."

The group, which has it's official base in Cross Gates, has a fluctuating membership of between 25 right up to a peak of around 40, as people leave and new members have their interest piqued by the group's activities.

Members have aged from their 20s up to 80 plus.

From the thrill of that first dig in Austhorpe, which was boosted by some lottery cash, the group's activity snowballed, with members giving up hours, searching the whole district for new sites to explore.

Fellow member Jean Millard, who like Kathy got hooked on east Leeds' history after attending a single group meeting some five years ago, said: "I think east Leeds has so much history behind it because it rests right on the A1 which was one of the only suitable places to settle at that time.

"We have so much fun on the digs, every time someone finds something we can't stop giggling. People might think it's a really specialist, expert pastime, which might put them off but I think often it's the case that people underestimate themselves because we get people all the time who have had no experience with archaeology before and haven't even held a trowel."

Some of the group's most successful and exciting recent dig sites have been at ancient farms, where group members have worked to survey the architecture and history behind sites that appear on maps dating back to the 1700s.

Exploring the farms has seen work take place at Newsam Green, on the fringes of the Temple Newsam estate and most recently at Lazencroft, near the old Vickers tank factory just outside Cross Gates.

Talking about the latter sees both Kathy and Jean's eyes light up when they describe the discovery of a kiln from an early 18th century slipware pottery production site.

Thousands upon thousands of pieces of centuries-old broken pottery were uncovered on the site, including plates bearing the names of long gone local pubs and beautiful patterned dishes.

And it's testament to the pair's devotion to the cause that as a by-product of the dig, both their homes have become ad hoc assembly lines as they painstakingly reassemble the shattered finds, restoring some to close to their former glory.

But the sheer scale of what the group feel they can uncover in the area means that the hunt is always on for extra manpower.

Kathy said: "Every single site we've worked on has been so interesting. It's very addictive but we're desperate for new members because there's so much out there to find and there's so much that we could do with more members."

The drive to find new recruits has seen members get involved at local schools, hoping to inspire the next generation of heritage hunters, with workshops planned for more schools in east Leeds.

Kathy said: "The kids we've worked with are so enthusiastic and lots of them said they wanted to be archaeologists after we saw them. It's a great chance for them to get to grips with the history of the area where they live and go to school."

And in a bid to showcase what the LAFS has accomplished, they'll be putting on a two-week exhibition at Temple Newsam House which begins with an open day on July 17.

For more information about the group, and how to join, logon to www.leedsarchaeology.co.uk.