Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

A wide-angle, long-range photograph capturing the southern periphery of Great Ayton village. The subject is a large, light green arable field—the site of the proposed Easby Lane residential development—located just right of the image centre. The field is bounded to the northwest by the established gardens and rooftops of a late 20th-century housing estate and to the southwest by the stretch of Easby Lane. The surrounding environment features a broad agricultural landscape with open fields to the south and east, illustrating the village's historic relationship with its rural setting. In the mid-distance, the wooded banks of the River Leven and the historic core of the village are visible, framed by a vast landscape extending toward the horizon under an overcast sky.

Easby Lane Housing Development: Uncovering the Anomalies

I climbed up to Easby Moor before the heat settled in. From the top I could clearly make out the arable field on the edge of Great Ayton that has been earmarked for 68 new houses1North Yorkshire Council Reference ZB25/01974/FUL. https://planning.hambleton.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=T4UPUEHULU200&activeTab=summary. It is the field just right of centre, with a crop that is still green.

It is easy to see an ordinary field and think little of it. That would be a mistake. This is land that has spent the best part of a thousand years recovering from one of the darkest episodes in northern England’s history. When the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, it described this area as “waste”, a bleak word for land left deserted and uncultivated after the Norman Harrying of the North.

The 3.9-hectare field beside the housing estate and football pitch now stands at another turning point. It has almost certainly been ploughed continuously since at least 1847, but beneath the soil there may be traces of something far older than even Great Ayton’s most famous son, Captain James Cook. Recent geophysical surveys have detected a series of curving buried ditches in the southern corner. Their age and purpose remain unknown2Archaeological Services Durham University. “Land at Easby Lane, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire: Geophysical Survey”. April 2025, http://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeological.services..

Before any building starts, archaeologists will cut a series of trial trenches across the site to discover exactly what lies below. Meanwhile, heritage specialists believe the new houses will have little effect on the historic heart of the village, as modern housing and thick riverside trees already screen the site from view3BWB Consulting Ltd. “Heritage Assessment: Easby Lane, Great Ayton, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire”. May 2025, http://www.bwbconsulting.com). Very reassuring.

There is something quietly fitting about it. A field once laid waste by war, restored through centuries of farming, is about to become home to another generation. Before that happens, it may finally give up a few of the secrets it has kept buried for centuries. Whether they prove to be the remains of an Iron Age settlement or nothing more than natural features, the answer should not be long in coming.

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One response to “Easby Lane Housing Development: Uncovering the Anomalies”

  1. Jane Elson avatar
    Jane Elson

    You may be surprised at this development …. but my village of 38 homes and one farm have been fighting a huge development for some years…. the proposal now sanctioned by NYCC is for a new town. The maltkiln village…..4,000 houses, schools and all the business hubs etc etc all to be built on top quality farm land. built on roman road sites, and the boundary is just outside our tiny village, listed in Doomsday book etc and there were roman villas in the area due to a crossing over the river Nidd in the village. Some land owners are selling to the huge development group, another landowner is still fighting but told by NYCC to have constructive discussion with the developer or compulsory purchase will be the next step. No infrastructure on the whole plot and whilst the village have warned about flooding the messages fall in deaf ears. It is disgraceful. After 48 years in the village, my home is now up for sale! We moved here for peace and a farming community and all of that will be destroyed. This is progress I’m told.

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