History
of the Service
The
post of County Archaeologist
in Cleveland County was established in 1974.
The first County Archaeologist, Marilyn Brown,
established the Sites
and Monuments Record and commissioned a variety
of projects including a base level survey of all
historic churches and Bronze Age burial mounds
in the county.
Between
1974 and 1978
excavations took place on a number of medieval
sites in Guisborough, Hartlepool and Yarm using
temporary contract staff funded by the Department
of Education and various government training programmes.
Throughout the 1980s and under
the direction of Blaise Vyner, the Archaeology
Section made use of government Manpower Service
Schemes as well as English
Heritage funding to carry out a number of
major excavation projects including digs at a
Neolithic
Long Cairn at Street House Farm, Loftus; an
Iron
Age Settlement at Thorpe Thewles; a pagan
Saxon cemetery at Norton and at the Anglo-Saxon
Monastery at Hartlepool.
In
the early 1990s the emphasis
of archaeology changed from centrally funded excavation
to the use of the planning system to control the
future of archaeological sites. Archaeological
work became largely developer funded and open
to competitive tendering. As a result many other
archaeological organisations began to become active
in archaeological fieldwork in the area.
In
1991 Blaise Vyner joined York
University and Robin
Daniels became head of the Archaeology Service.
The production of the first Forward Plan in 1993
was the embodiment of the new sense of direction
for the service based on the provision of information
to the general public.
Despite
the new emphasis on developer funded work the
service carried out major research projects in
the early 1990s at a medieval
village at Elton, near Stockton; a Bronze Age
complex at Barnaby Side, Eston and a medieval
lodge at Upsall. Major developer funded work included
excavations at Hartlepool’s
Submerged Forest and Bonnygrove Farm, Middlesbrough.
The
implementation of Local Government Re-organisation
in 1996 resulted in Hartlepool
becoming the Lead Authority for the Archaeology
Service and the service being relocated from its
original base in Middlesbrough to Sir William
Gray House, Hartlepool. The title of the service
was also changed to Tees Archaeology:
The Archaeological Service for Teesside.
There
were intense budgetary pressures following local
government re-organisation and this resulted in
a 16% budget cut in the 1997/1998
financial year and a further cut of 5% in 1998/1999.
These reductions culminated in the deletion of
the excavation budgets and unfortunate staff cuts.
Despite
budgetary pressure a new partnership was funded
to ensure that research excavation on Teesside
could continue. In 1999 the first
season of excavation took place at Catcote,
Hartlepool. This is a training excavation
run with students of the University of Durham
and local volunteers. It has since become an annual
event and its success in involving the public
in archaeology has shaped the format of many of
our other activities.
2000/2001
was dominated by the Best Value Review of the
service which occupied a large amount of staff
time and had a knock on effect on other activities.
The service has emerged from the review with the
highest scores possible and a clear set of actions
to improve the service and maintain its excellence.
2001/2003
saw further changes to staff with the appointment
of a Community
Archaeologist based in the historic town of
Hartlepool
with Single Regeneration Budget funding. The success
of this and the Catcote format of excavation led
to the establishment of a second research project
at Foxrush
Farm, Dormanstown. A major rescue excavation
of a substantial Bronze Age timber feature at
Staithes also took place in partnership with the
North Yorkshire Moors National Park and English
Heritage.
2003/2004
sees the continuation of our public involvement
activities with excavations at Captain
Cook’s Birthplace in Stewart Park, Middlesbrough
taking place alongside excavations at Catcote,
Foxrush Farm and the community excavations at
Friarage Field, Hartlepool. The launch of this
website will represent the first stage in making
the service more accessible through information
technology. |
