| Where | Great Broughton Village Hall | Type of Event | Illustrated Talk |
| When | Monday 17th March 2025 | Tutor | Roger Inman |
The lecture was delivered by Roger Inman, who is a local archaeologist, and also Chair of Hidden Valleys Community Project. Roger has given talks to the Local History Group before and was welcomed back. We had a good sized audience. Roger’s lecture was well organised, and he presented a well-researched and mastered subject.
Roger began with words of appreciation for the work of Roland Close and Raymond Hayes. Roland Close was a resident of Baysdale and Kildale and had been closely involved with the local excavations. Raymond Hayes worked for many years on the excavations but may be better known as a co-founder of the Ryedale Folk Museum. The main excavations of the Percy Rigg site took place between 1963 and 1968. The site revealed five separate round houses on the site but the construction and placement suggests that there was only ever one house in occupation at any time.
What was also made clear was the amount of agriculture during the periods excavated, by which is meant Bronze and Iron ages and the Roman period. There were, for example, thirty five Romano-British sites discovered in Kildale. Indeed, Kildale has a richness of sites, which include Brown Moor and Pale End. These latter two sites reveal a significant quantity of good pottery and a huge number of querns. There is also a large enclosure on Great Ayton Moor.
Although there is no longer excavation at the roundhouses there is archaeological activity on other parts of Percy Rigg being pursued at the moment.
Roger’s talk was lavishly illustrated. The presentation used fifty three slides. There were many photographs of the various sites. The most dramatic were the aerial photographs, particularly those taken in the snow. The audience was able to appreciate the sites in a way not possible by simply visiting the sites on the ground. There were maps and survey plans of sites and the many excavations. The illustrations were invaluable in making clearer the nature of the population at this time. There seems to have been a large population at this period.
The material was absorbing and the audience was attentive. Questions were asked. It was an enjoyable evening.