BUDDING time-teamers are being invited to take part in an exciting new project to help unearth important local history.

The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) is looking for volunteers to take part in an archaeological survey of Thorns, a long-deserted hamlet at Ribblehead, near Ingleborough.

Volunteers will be trained in a variety of archaeological techniques including surveying, identifying and excavating features, drawing, photography and recording, as well as botanical surveying techniques. The project is being led by Dr David Johnson, a local independent landscape archaeologist.

He said: “The history of Thorns is both long and varied. Though it has been abandoned as a settlement for over a century it once played an important part in the economy of the Ribblehead area.

"This project gives us the opportunity to unlock its secrets and tell its story. We’re very grateful to the landowner for giving us permission for the project.”

Thorns was an important location on a former packhorse route and records of the settlement date back to 1190 when it belonged to Furness Abbey, a former monastery near Barrow in Furness, once the second most wealthy monastery and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country behind Fountain Abbey.

Nearby is Thorns Gill limestone packhorse bridge which spans Gayle Beck and is thought to be at least 300 years old and on one of the major drovers' routes in the area.

Wills, parish records and censuses indicate that there were five tenements living in Thorns in 1538, three households in 1841, and one uninhabited dwelling in 1891.

The project is part of "Stories in Stone", a four-year programme of community and heritage projects which have been developed by the Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Thanks to national lottery, the programme enables people from all backgrounds and of all ages to learn about, enjoy and help manage the stunning limestone landscape around Ingleborough, both above and below ground.

It includes a wide range of projects and activities such as restoration of field barns, drystone walls and wildlife habitats and involves people in archaeological digs, digital archiving and collecting oral history.

The project can support local people and groups wanting to look after their local area, provide formal and informal training opportunities, offer new learning opportunities for local schoolchildren and deliver events and activities to celebrate the local heritage. It also improves physical and intellectual access to the area and its heritage features.

The Landscape Partnership is led by YDMT and also includes the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust, Natural England, Hanson UK and Tarmac Ltd.

Landowners, farmers, educational establishments, parish and district councils, businesses and local history and community groups are also involved in developing and delivering the scheme.

The trust works to support the natural and built environment, and the social and economic well-being of this special area.

To date it has recruited more than 50,000 supporters and helped to deliver over 1,900 projects worth around £27 million in the Yorkshire Dales and surrounding areas.

As well as coordinating Stories in Stone, the trust helps to restore native broadleaf woodlands and wildflower hay meadows in and around the Yorkshire Dales, as well as running award-winning outreach projects.

Heritage lottery fund money is invested to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about - from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife.

Its landscape partnerships are helping bring together members of the community as well as local, regional, and national organisations to deliver schemes which benefit some of the UK’s most outstanding landscapes and rural communities. Grants range from £100,000 up to £3 million.

The archaeological survey will start in April and anyone interested in being involved should contact Don Gamble at YDMT on 015242 51002 or email don.gamble@ydmt.org.