The Great Ayton Community Archaeology Group, GACAP, was formed in 2001 and set about enthusiastically learning as much as possible about their local area, embracing all the resources at their disposal, including the use of a replica Second World War ‘plane for aerial photography.

They are exploring a vast time-span which includes a successful search for Mesolithic and Neolithic flints, the location of Captain Cook’s father’s cottage and the recent finding of a World War II auxiliary unit bunker.

Much of GACAP’s funding has been spend on training with the aim of becoming competent in surveying and project management, working with a community archaeologist, Kevin Cale, to help them become self-reliant in future.

They have also invested in IT hardware, software and training which has helped them to produce presentations to a professional standard and an archive CD-ROM for public access.

GACAP has an extraordinarily rich archaeological heritage within the local area and is wasting no time in taking full advantage of the opportunities around them, with regular Wednesday meetings, site visits and researching documentary evidence.

Members are grateful for the support of local farmers and landowners who have allowed access to their fields to continue their work.

In the past year their projects have included a field walk where a Bronze Age barbed and tangled arrowhead was found, ‘a lot of work’ (their words) on the WW2 air crash on Great Ayton Moor, collation of the ridge and furrow fields with the help of aerial photography and a site trip to Sheffield Museum to see the Bronze Age hoard found in 1926 on Roseberry Topping (a landmark hill recognised by the ‘bite’ out of the top).

Their plan is to set up a local history group to maintain a long term commitment to historical research. With the number of sites still to be fully explored, GACAP has a busy future ahead of it.